Too Much Time On My Hands
by neopyro
Summary: Harry decides that the world's chances are looking pretty bleak after the loss of Dumbledore. With the help of his friends, he sends himself back in time and transfers all his knowledge of the future to his one year old self. AU
1. Prologue

A/n: I know I need to update All it takes, guys, but I need a breather. I'm sure you understand.

Too Much Time on My Hands

Prologue

All the world's combined knowledge seemed to sit at his fingertips. He knew he didn't have much time and he needed to do something that was so impossible, it was closer to unthinkable. Yet it seemed to be less daunting than the other option. Harry Potter was referring to the task of defeating Voldemort without the aid of Albus Dumbledore and a traitor within the Order of the Phoenix and his hairbrained unthinkable scheme that would get him around it. He'd been working on the scheme so long that he couldn't remember which of the two was supposed to be the impossible one.

There was so much he needed to plan, and so much more that needed to be done. Yet somehow he stayed focused. In fact, it was the only thing he could focus on. At first he'd just forget to go down at mealtimes. Then he forgot to bathe. Then Hermione came into his room, stunned him and force fed him before revitalizing him only to throw him into the lake.

In case you hadn't figured it out, Harry was at Hogwarts. After the wards failed on his Aunt's house as an after-effect of Dumbledore's passing, Headmistress McGonnagall decreed that Hogwarts was the only safe place for Harry. So, the day after Fleur and Bill's Marriage, Harry was dragged off to Hogwarts with Ron, Hermione, Luna, Neville and Ginny. There were occasional visits from Order members, but mainly they stayed by themselves all day.

Harry shook his head while muttering under his breath. Harry had started his research in the Hogwarts library. When he couldn't find detailed explanations of what he wanted to do, he moved on to the restricted section.

After that, he abandoned the Hogwarts Library for the Room of Requirement. And now he had all the knowledge he needed to attempt what might have been the greatest feat in theoretical magic since Merlin's time. Now he just needed the ability to make it work.

He'd started preparing shopping lists for the Headmistress of things he needed. When she started glaring at him every chance she got, he started owling companies directly.He was so close to doing the impossible. He just needed a little more time.

WHAM!

Harry jumped as he heard the sound- it was something similar to a door getting blasted off it's hinges. Either way, he dropped his chalk and it snapped in two. He swore and turned to face the intruder.

The door-blasting theory wasn't far from the truth. Harry found himself staring at an enranged Hermione Granger. Behind her were the tired forms of Neville Longbottom and Ron Weasley.

"HARRY POTTER!" she screached in a voice that would make a dragon whimper. "WE AGREED ON A MIDNIGHT CURFEW! YOU SAID YOU WOULD TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF! YET HERE YOU ARE, UNBATHED, UN-FED AT FOUR IN THE MORNING! GO TO BED!"

Ron and Neville were both covering their ears. They both seemed to be favoring whatever option would get them back in bed the fastest.

"No." Harry said in a clear but annoyed voice. "My work will not wait." He repaired the chalk and returned to the gigantic circle of runes he was drawing. The circle had a 77 foot diameter and had runes that started as one foot long, and got smaller aas you worked your way inwards, until you reached a single 7' by 7' rune in hte center of the pattern.

By saying the words "My work" he had effectively shifted the attention to what he had done.

"Wicked..." Ron managed before stifling a yawn.

"Harry...I... I can't read half of this. What is this?" Hermione asked, stunned.

"This is how we will defeat Voldemort. Have Dobby bring me some coffee and a pepper-up potion would you?" Harry asked.

All three nodded mutely. Somehow, whatever Harry was doing seemed far more important than sleep. If they could help him get it done faster by not sleeping, all three were up to the challenge.

Neville went off to the kitchens, and Ron went to get Ginny and Luna. Hermione sat in silence for a moment before asking "What can I do?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Harry replied with the shadow of a grin on his face.

Harry exlained exactly what he wanted of them. Hermione seemed a little shocked, but agreed instantly. With the help of his friends, his speed multiplied. Within days, instead of weeks, his spell was ready. He just had one last thing to do. He needed to cast it.

But that would require a full night's sleep, and a bit more help than his friends might be willing to give.

Harry crawled off to bed of his own free will that night. The first time he'd done so in weeks. After breakfast the next morning, he called his friends into the room one last time.

"Okay, Harry. You've been working on this thing for weeks now, but not even Hermione has a clue about what it does. What is it?" Ginny asked.

Harry turned and admired his design for a moment before answering. It was made up of a total of seven circles. One gigantic sircle with one smaller circle in the middle. The outside of the circle had five more circles exactly the size of the one in the middle. Each of the outer circles was equidistant from eachother and had a single line leading from it to the center, creating a star shape with the lines. Each outer circle had a perfect gem at the part where the gigantic circle met the smaller circle and at that point the line to the center circle was drawn. There was a ruby, a sapphire, a topaz, a white diamond and an ebony.Sitting at the point of a staff in the center of the pattern was an emerald. There were thousands of runes in this series of circles, each one with a spell inscribed within it. Harry was proud of his work... that is of course assuming it functioned.

Harry took a deep breath and began to explain. "This pattern is designed to manipulate time in a way similar to that of a time turner only on a much larger scale. This pattern will allow me to travel back in time to a point where Voldemort may be defeated. "

And Hermione had a look on her face that looked like he'd slapped her. "So you're giving up then? You don't have any hope that we can beat him? You-." Her voice was rising louder with every note. Harry cut her off.

"In a way, I am, Hermione. Dumbledore is dead. There is a traitor in the Order. And what's worse is I don't even know what I need to know to defeat Him, and there isn't anybody who knows how to do so. We could concievably win still, but it would take too many lives. So many people would die that wizards would reach the brink of extinction. We don't need that. We need a less painful way. A waythat saves us some un-needed grief. " Hermione smallowed hard. She no longer seemed angry..

When the silence got unbearable Harry spoke again.

"So, now I'm going to tell you all what part I'd like you to play in this and exactly what it entails. We will perform the spell on the full moon in two weeks. I'd like your answer within three days so that I can still have time to find a replacement, should you refuse." Harry continued.

Everyone in the room nodded their assent.

Harry tried to speak but found his mouth wouldn't move. With a wave of his wand, a piece of chalk started writing on a blackboard that hadn't been there thirty seconds ago. He left the room, knowing he couldn't face them after they understood what he asked.

His five friends barely noticed his abscence. They were still staring at the words on the board with their mouths open.

"The spell you would end up casting (should you choose to accept) is highly dangerous, and though no law has outlawed it specifically, there is still a high probability of you getting arrested for the part you might or might not play in its casting. I will require your strength for the casting of this spell. Specifically, I will be draining your magical energy because I do not have the strength to cast this spell alone. By casting this spell, all of you would be weakened to the point of sheer exhaustion, and you might have a hard time doing much more than breathe for the next week. You should regain our ability to cast simple spells in three weeks and be back up to full strength by the time term starts. The spell would also forge a bond between each of you and myself that is far stronger than a twin-bond, a marriage bond and a blood bond combined. Secrets between us would be utterly impossible because each of you could see eachother's thoughts as easily as seeing your own. The bond would be unbreakable and the only to stop it would be death... And I'm not even certain about that. There is a slim possibility of us being able to commune beyond the grave as well. I won't lie to you about this: the spell has a possibility of killing you, turning you into a muggle, or countless other nasty things that I dare not even think about, let alone mention. The ritual would be extremely painful and mentally invasive. I do not believe I have the right to ask this from anyone, but also believe that I have no other choice." The writing finished, and the five read it over several times.

"I'm going to bed. Or somewhere. This makes my head hurt." Ron said after a few minutes. He walked off. Five minutes later, Neville mentioned something about feeding Trevor and watering his Mimblus Mimbletonia and left too. One at a time, they all made their excuses to leave. Hermione was still staring at the board an hour later, before she finally gave in and went to the library.

Nobody asked about Harry until dinner. When nobody had seen him by the next morning, they consulted the Marauder's Map. Harry wasn't on the grounds.

They found a note on his bed that said: "I'm out doing some last minute errands. I'll be back Tuesday. Don't worry, I'll be safe.

-Harry

P.S. I'd appreciate if you kept the fact that I'm not here secret from our esteemed Headmistress. She might not be too happy about this."

A few hundred miles away, Harry was smiling underneath his invisibility cloak. Before he went back in time, he needed to learn a lot of things. He only had three days to learn them all too. At least, that was the case this morning. Now that was no longer true. Now he was the proud owner of a time turner. He planned to have a whole lot more than three days worth of study.

Harry stepped into a disused alley and removed his cloak, before placing it in his bookbag. There were a few things he had always wanted to do, and now he was going to learn how. But first... Harry had always wanted to go to the Circus...

Harry lost track of the number of times he'd used the time turner. He'd lost count around 8,000 turns. He estimated that it had broken around 16,000 but it could easily hae been more. Either way, he'd spent approximately six months reliving those same three days. He'd taken classes and read books on every subject he'd ever been even remotely curious about. And many other things.

But either way, Harry decided he was ready. He went back to Hogwarts to face his five best friends.He was pleasantly surprised to find that all five had accepted his idea as a neccessity and were ready to perform the ceremony on the full moon.

The time came sooner than he'd expected, but finally, everything was ready. Each of his friends stood in one of the outside circles just as he'd instructed. They chanted the words he'd taught them and slowly, the runes began to glow. Lines of light, Red, Yellow, Blue, Black and White connected from the gems to the tip of Harry's staff. He could tell that this was the part that started to get painful, but the chant did not fail. It didn't even diminish. Harry could feel the drops of sweat on Luna's brow. He knew that Hermione was holding back tears. Harry was in tune with all of them, and he knew it was time. Harry removed his staff from the bracket that was holding it, disrupting the beams of light traveling towards it's point. He stabbed the air with the end, as if he were holding a lance. He made an upward cutting motion... and the fabric of the universe began to fray. He called Hedwig to him with a word and the two disappeared into the hole in the air.

Without Harry's presence, the spell collapsed. The hole sealed itself, and there was a deafening explosion. The chalk drawn runes fanished and the gems grew white hot, before turning to glass, and then ash.

Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Luna and Neville collapsed simultaneously. Dobby took them off to the hospital wing, a single tear trickling down his cheek.

Harry found himself standing exactly where he'd expected. Or rather, he was floating. His body had lost it's substance and he was little more than a ghost. Harry nodded to Hedwig, who took off with a letter in her talons.

Before him, he watched Albus Dumbledore setting his one year old self on the Dursley's doorstep. He waited a few minutes for them to leave before approaching his younger self. He gently reached out and touched his finger to the baby's scar, and allowed himself to become assimilated into his younger self. Baby Harry would hold all the knowledge 17 year old Harry held and would grow up in a completely unexpected direction.

Miles away, Albus Dumbledore was greeted with a snowy white owl and a letter.

Hello Albus,

It's been awhile since we spoke, but for me it's been awhile since you died. I have delivered a message through time to you because our future world, on it's current course is doomed. But I have two reccomendations that might put it in a better place, and perhaps even save your life.

My first suggestion would be for you to send Aurors (alot of them) to the Longbottom Residence and keep them there as soon as you can. They will be attacked and as a result we will lose two of the best Aurors in the force, as well as causing their son to grow up in a life much more miserable than it should have been.

My second is for you to send someone to check up on Harry Potter as often as possible. He knows far more than even you could expect, and will need support if he is to live long enough to successfully vanquish Lord Voldemort.

He is not gone. He is merely in hiding. Remember that.

There was no signature, but something about the letter made Albus quiver with anticipation. He had the feeling something had changed. He tossed a fistful of Floo Powder into the fireplace.

"Alastor?" he asked "How would you like to become a temporary houseguest of the Longbottoms? Bring whmever you can trust that. I have heard a rumor from a very reliable source that the Longbottoms will be attacked."

Alastor noticed the note of authority and obeyed without a question. The Headmaster seemed to know a lot more than he did, and he accepted it. The longbottoms wouldn't need to worry. When Death Eaters were concerned, he was more than up to the challenge.

END OF CHAPTER

A/n: How was it? I know I have a lot of AU fics, but none that really actually change the flow of the books. This one will, I assure you.

A bit of credit goes to ThunderGod for this idea. Though he didn't create it directly, he certainly inspired it with one of his comments about how I "Missed my chance" in All it Takes and how I should re-write the entire series in my own image.


	2. Chapter 1

Too Much Time on My Hands  
Chapter One

Everything was dark. Not a light in the entire village was on. It was the most opportune time they'd had to strike, and they took it. Who else could give them information about their master than Frank Longbottom, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

There were seven Death Eaters, together on a quest to re-locate their master. Their names were not important. Only their quest.

"Alohamora." the leader, and only female of the group whispered.

There was a click as the tumblers to the lock fell into place. Bellatrix grinned and opened the door. They wanted to get the jump on the Longbottoms.

They could barely see in the half-dark of the moonlit house.

"C'mon Bella, just one light..." Whimpered Barty Crouch Jr.

The only answer was a short slap across his face. The others got the message quickly and didn't ask again. The Death Eaters blundered about the Longbottom house in the dark, making much less noise than most would have expected.

The idea of the house being a trap never occured to them. At least... Not until the Anti-Apparation wards were set up.

"TRAP! IT'S A TRAP! RUN!" Bellatrix screeched, just as eight Aurors stepped out from under invisibility cloaks and yelled "STUPEFY!"

All of the Death Eaters crumpled to the floor. They didn't stand a chance.

"Another notch in your belt, eh Alastor?" Frank Longbottom told his mentor with a cheeky grin.

Moody only snorted. "I just hope the Dementors are hungry."

Both men laughed loudly, only to be shooed out of the hallway by a slightly irritated Alice Longbottom for waking up Neville. The Aurors activated portkeys and took the Death Eaters off to Azkaban. Little did they know just how much a difference this catch would make.

Petunia Dursley was up early, as usual. She had many things to do after all, taking care of a family was a full time job. Vernon would be sleeping in, since it was the weekend. She would take something to eat up to his room in a few hours. Her pride and joy, Dudley Dursley was still asleep in his crib for once, meaning that if she was quiet, she could get some useful work done. Working quickly, she whipped together the batter for pancakes (the morning's breakfast) and put it in the fridge. If Vernon woke up early, she planned to have breakfast made and ready for him by the time he finished his shower. That meant she had to have everything ready to go in the skillet the moment she heard the first floorboard squeak. Although in this case, "squeak" was too mild of a word. "Groan" was far more appropriate.

Petunia knew how Vernon loved to have the paper waiting for him when he got up. With that in mind she crept up to the front door, undid the latch, and opened it as soundlessly as she could manage.

And then she screamed.

Harry awoke quickly and suspected the world was ending. Or maybe Godzilla had missed Tokyo and come to London. There weren't that many things that could inspire someone to scream like that.

'Or maybe Aunt Petunia just noticed me on her doorstep.'

He opened his emerald green eyes, and they confirmed his suspicion. He wondered vaguely why he couldn't see so well... Then it occurred to him. He didn't have glasses yet.

'Well... that tosses a wrench in things...' he thought. 'Still, I suppose it's best I hid my abilities and knowledge anyway. Babies don't generally talk the same way adults do.'

Somehow, Aunt Petunia had maintained enough air in her lungs to continue her scream for the entire duration of his thoughts.

Soon, Uncle Vernon had come down the stairs in his bathrobe, wondering why his wife was screaming. Dudley had awoken and decided it was his personal mission in life to out-scream his mother. While he did not succeed, it was a valiant effort nonetheless.

Vernon and Petunia exchanged a dark look before taking Harry into the house. They read the letter that came with Harry and they weren't happy. But still they took him in. Perhaps it was something in the letter, but their expressions showed that they didn't have much of a choice.

Harry knew that he couldn't do the slightest thing wrong or his Uncle would get the brilliant idea to move him to the cabinet under the stairs. He had to plan his time carefully if he wanted to get into his relatives' good graces. And if he wanted to get any productive learning done in the next ten years of his life, he would need to swallow his pride and suck up. No revenge, no petty pranks, no nonsense. Voldemort was his first priority, and he would need knowledge, resources and friends.

To get either of those three things, he would need transportation and possibly money. Both of those things would be almost impossible to get any other way.

And so Harry shut his eyes, concentrated on all pain, sadness and anger he'd ever felt towards the Dursleys... and let it go. This time around, things would be different. He just needed to be the one to change things.

So, the next time he saw his aunt, Harry raised his tiny arms and gave the biggest baby grin he could manage.

"Ann Patoona!" he said. Harry saw the corners of her mouth turn upwards ever so slightly.

'Yes...' Harry thought. 'Things will be different this time.'

Albus Dumbledore pored over the mysterious letter he'd received by owl a few days ago. 'A man in the future ('Or woman.' he thought 'The letter is written in a very non-gender specific fashion and could be either.') says that I will die. And that our world will be doomed to Voldemort's reign unless things change. Things involving Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter. Perhaps they will die?' he pondered.

'Still, I wonder who sent the letter. I did not recognize the handwriting, meaning it is either from someone I don't know, or from someone I haven't yet met.' Albus sighed. 'Which means I won't know who sent it until the I meet them again. Still, I suppose I should send someone to check up on Harry sometime. I wonder what Minerva is up to at the moment?'

Albus tossed a handful of Floo Powder into the flames and contacted Hogwart's Transfiguration Professor.

She reluctantly agreed to take a look in on Harry the next day around lunch time.

Aunt Petunia fastened her son and her nephew into separate car seats. She then set each car seat down in the grass and rigged up an umbrella between the two seats to protect the two children from the sun. Now she could finally work in her garden. She didn't bother to lock the buckles on the car seats into place since both of the babies were asleep. So, of course it was a bit of a surprise when her nephew crawled out of the seat, and laid down next to her while she knelt in the garden. He seemed to be watching her work. Since he wasn't bothering anything, Petunia continued with her weeding.

She didn't keep too much of an eye on Harry, but her head whipped around when the heard the unmistakable sound of a plant being uprooted. She turned in fear, expecting one of her precious tulips to be sitting in the hands of her nephew.

Baby Harry smiled his baby smile and tossed a dandelion over his shoulder (sort of. It only went about six inches) in the exact same manner she'd been doing.

Petunia looked on in awe as Harry removed every dandelion from her garden, as well a s a few other weeds that he must have seen her uproot before.

This time, Petunia didn't suppress the approving smile that filled her face. She needed to have a talk with Vernon about their young nephew. A talk about converting that upstairs guest room into a bed for Harry. After all, a child as smart as he was could be a great influence on their son.

She turned to look at her nephew once more, and found him ridding the garden of that hideously invasive onion grass that always choked her daffodils and caused them to wilt.

Perhaps having a wizard in the house wouldn't be so bad after all...

Harry was exhausted. He could barely keep himself from toppling over. His baby body was unaccustomed to the rigors of weeding the garden, but he knew he couldn't stop now. Not after that look he got from his Aunt.

He didn't have the strength to pull the weeds out straight. Even in the loose, well-tilled garden soil he needed dig around the base of the plant to remove it. Harry breathed a mental sigh of relief as his Aunt walked off to gather a trash bin for all the weeds they had removed. By the time Petunia had returned, Harry had crawled back to his car seat and was fast asleep.

His last thought before darkness claimed him was 'and now for the hard part: Uncle Vernon.'

Harry woke several hours later. Aunt Petunia had brought Harry and Dudley back inside and was working on dinner. Harry suspected Uncle Vernon would be home soon. His guess proved to be correct, as a few minutes later, her heard the sound of tires on asphalt and the low roar of an engine. He heard a car door shut which was followed by the front door opening and closing.

"Petunia darling, I'm home!" Vernon called.

"I'm in the kitchen dear!" Petunia called back. "Dinner will be ready in just a few minutes."

"Anka Vurrnin!" Harry squealed in his baby voice when his uncle entered the kitchen.

Vernon blinked twice. "He talks." Vernon said simply.

"Some." Petunia answered. "But that's not all he does. Entirely too smart, that one. He helped me weed the garden today. It was strange. He looked at me and watched me remove the weeds, and he started copying me, removing only the plants I did. He could be a very good influence on our Duddikins, assuming we can keep him from ever hearing about that... rubbish."

"SHH!" Vernon hissed.

"I'm just saying. He's smart, and Dudley has the same forehead as your Grandfather Darryl. You don't want him to inherit the same brain too...do you?"

Vernon shuddered. His Grandpa Darryl had died in World War 2. His commanding officer reported that Darryl had thrown the wrong end of the grenade.

"True..." Vernon said, trailing off with the intent for Petunia to continue speaking.

"Let's put him in the guest room so he can be closer to Dudley. If he starts showing some of that funny business, we can always continue with our original plan of tossing him in the cabinet." Petunia said.

Vernon thought about it for a minute, before finally agreeing. He didn't really want Dudley to be all brilliant and geeky... but he needed to have some brains or else he'd wind up like Grandpa Darryl.

Neither Petunia nor Vernon noticed the triumphant grin on Harry's face.

'Perfect.' Harry thought.

The next day, Minerva McGonnagall left her office, intending to do what Albus had asked her to to do and check on Harry. She took a quick look over her robes to make sure she looked dignified before tossing a fist full of Floo Powder into the fireplace and said "Diagon Alley" before stepping into the roaring green flames.

The Deputy Headmistress had no intention of going to Diagon Alley of course, but it was the best spot she could think of to Floo to before apparating to Privet Drive. Or as close as the house wards would let her to Privet drive anyway.

She stepped out into the Alley gracefully. She brushed a small amount of soot off her hat and disapparated with a crack.

She found herself close to a mile from number four Privet drive, in a small but disused public park. She sighed and walked off to check on those horrible Muggles and Harry. Once she was two blocks away from the Dursley residence, she transformed into her Animagus form, intending to spy on the Dursleys and check on Harry's status.

As she rounded the corner and walked up to the Dursley's driveway, she spied baby Harry, all alone in the yard. He seemed to be... weeding the garden!

She must have made a noise, because baby Harry turned around and looked at her and grinned. She casually dismissed it as a happy baby's curious-but-grinning look.

Until he winked. She was certain he winked at her before turning back to his "work." Shivers traveled up her spine as she turned away from the Dursley residence.

She didn't know how, why, or even have an ounce of proof to back up her reasoning, but it didn't matter. She was certain.

She was certain that Harry Potter knew who she was and that she was an Animagus. Something told her she wouldn't be sleeping very well that night.


	3. Chapter 2

Too Much Time On My Hands  
Chapter Two

Over the next few years, Harry became a master of negotiations, especially when they concerned the Dursleys. Harry kept his nose clean and never did anything wrong. With seven years of Hogwarts education already under his belt, Harry didn't have any issues with accidental magic, and without any outward signs of magic the Dursleys became less suspicious of him. They slowly began to treat him as a tolerable houseguest instead of as a bloodsucking parasite (as they had treated him last time.)

So long as Harry continued to work about the household and do things that needed to be done, the Dursleys were willing to grant him small favors in return without too much protest. Uncle Vernon had barely growled at him when the doctor told them he needed glasses. (the first time it had happened, Vernon had brought it up for weeks afterward, making Harry wish he'd never gotten the glasses.)

The Dursleys had slowly but surely given in when he requested books to read, and now they had a bit of an unspoken agreement that Harry would get one book of his choosing every month provided he continued doing whatever they requested around the house and didn't start showing any shred of personality.

It was true, Harry had been pouring every drop of his being into planning what he was going to do once he got to Hogwarts. It also had a welcome side-effect of making him appear as meek and close to invisible. He didn't show any outward signs of being anything except a good-natured work-slave who obeyed orders instantly and without question.

Soon, Harry began to teach himself more skilled ways of helping out. For his fifth birthday, Harry had coaxed the Dursleys into buying him a book on mechanics and how things work. Or rather, a five book set. Harry had expected tinkering with bits of metal to be dead boring, and was pleasantly surprised. Harry found some sort of mindless satisfaction in taking broken things and repairing them under his own skill rather than with the aid of magic. He was uncannily good at it too. The Dursleys made their book money back in the first week, when Harry fixed the brand new Vacuum Cleaner Petunia had bought (that conveniently enough didn't come with a warrantee.)

But other than his talents with Muggle appliances, Harry discovered something else that he'd been itching to try out, and was still barely managing to restrain himself.

Deep within his mind, Harry had discovered the psychic and empathic links that connected him with his friends. He knew he had the ability to access the abilities, but he was afraid of influencing the future too much. He could say or do the wrong thing and scare his friends away from him. Permanently.

And then he discovered something else, deep within that link. There was a second set of connections… leading back to his other life and the world he'd come from. Harry could psychically communicate with the seventeen year old versions of his friends.

There were two versions of his friends that he could speak with, and five different friends to speak to. That meant that there were ten different channels of communication to speak through.

But his friends... he could speak to his friends. Ron...Hermione...Luna...Neville...Ginny... It had been so long since he'd spoken with them that he'd forgotten how much he missed them. Harry found it hard to breathe as he realized his were probably dead right now in the other world. Or prisoners. Still, if any of them were still alive... then he could talk to them before they went.

Harry managed to wait until he'd laid down for bed that night. Once safely inside his blankets, he reached out through his mind for Hermione. The contact came instantly! It sent shivers down his spine. It was that tingly feeling that always scuttled up the back of his neck right before something very important was to happen.

"_Hermione?" _Harry asked.

Harry heard a startled gasp_. "HARRY?" _Hermione thought, squealing with glee. _"Please tell me this isn't some sort of potion-induced hallucination and I'm actually speaking with you!"_

Harry chuckled. _"Yes, it really is me. I just discovered the mental connection earlier this week. I turned five two months ago!"_

Hermione joined his laughter. _"I could baby-sit you!" _she exclaimed.

"_You could... If there wasn't already a gigantic line of volunteers lined up for me. I lived my first few years entirely differently from last time through. Dudley hasn't hit me once in this life! I live in the spare bedroom already and haven't seen the inside of the cupboard under the stairs since I was in my last life. Things are going to go perfectly... God it's amazing to talk to you."_

"_It surely is." _Hermione said with a sigh. It was only then that Harry felt the true weight that sat upon her shoulders.

"_Oh gods Hermione... What's happened? Tell me everything..."_

Hermione started crying and slowly started pushing images along the connection. Non-verbal expressions of all the terrible things that had happened. Scenes of terrible carnage washed over him reminding him just how much Voldemort needed to die.

He saw Wormtail with his silver hand pressed against Remus's throat. He heard Hermione's anguished screams in the background as she was powerless to save him. The silver hand ate through Remus's flesh, eventually separating his head from his body.

He watched Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt dueling back to back against a force of countless Death Eaters. Spells came from all directions, and despite their efforts, they died. Tonks died first from a well aimed Avada Kedavra. Kingsley lasted a few minutes more, even taking out a few Death Eaters, before taking a reductor curse in the leg and falling. His last sight was the bottom of Lord Voldemort's robes and a flash of green light.

And then she showed him something worse. He watched three Inferi walking through the streets of London, killing Muggles, only to watch them rise again as Inferi and join their ranks... One of the Inferi had it's head stitched back on like some kind of patchwork zombie... And Harry screamed. Voldemort had animated Tonks, Kingsley and Lupin and added them to his ranks...

Harry watched seven different Ministers get inaugurated, and watched seven different funerals as they died.

And he saw smoke rising from the remains of the British Ministry of Magic.

Harry watched the funerals for Arthur and Molly Weasley.

But the mass graves were the worst. The times where the light side couldn't even accord to bury their dead and instead piled them high and burned them until the last bone was little more than ash.

Harry and Hermione cried for hours as they caught up on the four years they'd missed. Still, Harry felt that he had helped ease Hermione's pain somewhat and that made it all worthwhile.

They talked until the early hours of the morning, before both agreed it was for the best that they went to bed. Harry vowed to contact the rest of his friends the next morning

Sleep overtook him, and he slept peacefully. He wasn't alone anymore after all, his friends were always with him.

The morning came in the usual way, with sunlight creeping across the streets and housetops, illuminating everything with a golden sheen.

Harry awoke with the dawn, feeling energized after having the best night of sleep he'd had in this house in either lifetime.

The most peculiar of thoughts came into his mind. It was something he hadn't thought about in years.

"I wish Sirius was here..." Harry said under his breath.

"SIRIUS!" Harry exclaimed suddenly. "I can save him! He doesn't need to sit in Azkaban... he's alive still!"

His sudden inspiration filled Harry with hope, and then he realized something... he couldn't send an owl to anyone- He didn't have one. Hedwig had vanished shortly after delivering her letter to Dumbledore. The egg that contained her had just been laid after all.

Harry had no way to contact anyone...

Unless he used magic. It hadn't occurred to Harry to use his powers at all in the last five years. They might have been getting rusty... Or they might not be decently developed yet. Still... he had to try.

Harry a burned out lightbulb out of the trash can and set it on the desk before him. He needed an owl and he would get one.

Harry stared at the bulb before him and focused on his mental image of Hedwig. He shut his eyes and willed his magic to enter the bulb before him.

And when he opened them a perfectly normal snowy white owl sat before him. Harry was impressed. He wasn't sure he could've done it even if he had a wand. Still if the desiree was strong enough... Either way, Harry grinned and began to scrawl on a piece of paper a note to Albus Dumbledore.

_Hello Albus_

_It's been awhile since we spoke last. I believe I have a piece of information that would do you some good to hear, so here it is._

_Peter Pettigrew is alive._

_What's more is he was the traitor that betrayed the Potters. He is an Animagus. A rat Animagus as a matter of fact. I believe he is the pet of one Ronald Weasley. He is five years old at the moment and lives with his parents and six siblings just outside Ottery St. Catchpole. You might want to pay them a visit to confirm what I have said. An innocent man is wasting away in Azkaban every second you dawdle._

_When is the last time you checked on Harry Potter?_

_PS, You may keep the lightbulb._

Harry watched his makeshift Owl and note fly off into the distance. When he could see no more, he walked down the stairs and started making breakfast.

A few hours later, Albus Dumbledore sat in his office, poring over the list of students for the coming year. It was about time to send out the Hogwarts letters after all. He heard a rustle of feathers as an owl entered through the window and landed upon his desk.

It extended a foot for him to untie the attached letter. Albus sighed and decided to relieve the owl of its burden. He untied the letter and unfolded it. It was written on Muggle lined paper.

His eyes scanned the note and he had to read it twice before the full meaning came across.

"Little Peter? Surely not..." he mumbled. "But I suppose it is possible if Lily and James switched secret keepers... I owe Molly and Arthur a visit anyway. It has been too long." Albus continued musing over the letter and came to the next section. The one about Harry.

"I tried to send Minerva to see Harry a few months ago ago.. She refused to go. Severus has been too busy as of late... Hagrid would attract too much attention. Perhaps I could go myself? Yes... Perhaps that is best. Next week maybe.".

'Lightbulb?' Albus thought, looking about the room. He looked up just in time to watch the owl transfigure back to a lightbulb.

"Oh..." Albus said with a chuckle.

Albus decided that it was time for him to get some sleep. He read the letter a few more times before vowing to do something about it in the morning.

He laid down in his bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

A/n: I hope you all are liking this story.

Either way, in the next chapter there will be:

Dumbledore's visits to Harry and the Weasley's

Harry's chat with each of his friends (and possibly a chat with their younger selves)

Harry's first day at school and more.

Cheers!

Neopyro


	4. Chapter 3

A/n: Hey everyone! So sorry it's been so long, but I've been out of the country for the last month, and was out of town for the three weeks before that. And School started up on the 22nd, so I haven't had much time to write. Anyway, here's another chapter for you. Hope you like it.

Oh, and thanks to all seven of you who pointed out that Percy owned Scabbers at this point in time. It must have slipped my mind. I'll make it all better! Just watch and learn :P

Too Much Time On My Hands

Chapter Three

It felt good to be flying once more. Harry's Firebolt responded to the slightest touch, and he soared through the air, faster than the average sport's car, with the precision of a surgeons knife. Countryside houses and barns sat on the ground far below him. Small white dots on green hills and fields. They were sheep.

Harry pulled upwards and flew even higher. Higher than he ever had before. He passed through the clouds and rose higher. He knew he should be cold at this altitude, but he didn't notice a difference. Harry had to dive suddenly, as a jumbo jet came out of nowhere and nearly hit him.

He heard the roar of a dragon, and flew off in the opposite direction. He didn't want another run-in with the Horntail.

His hair blew out behind him as he flew. He spotted the tiniest shimmer of gold out of the corner of his eye. Suddenly, he wasn't above the clouds. He was playing Quidditch for England. They were playing against France for the World Cup.

Harry launched himself after the Snitch, the French seeker only a few yards behind him. He pushed his Firebolt to it's limit, and the French Seeker fell behind. Harry's hand closed around the Snitch...

And Harry felt a hook behind his navel, Suddenly it was dark. Red eyes in the distance. Laughter. Green light.

BREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Harry sat bolt upright. His alarm clock was ringing. Harry turned it off gently. Well, that was the only way to turn it off. It used to be Dudley's before he smashed it, and the plastic was caved in on the front so that you had to press buttons gently or they'd get stuck and the clock would keep buzzing until he unplugged it or unjammed it.

Harry shook off the remnants of his dream and headed down the stairs to make Breakfast. Harry pulled assorted vegetables from the fridge and washed and prepared them in a robotic manner. Sunday was always Omelet day. It was always the same for everyone. Petunia wanted celery and ham. Vernon wanted bacon, cheese, ham, onions, potatoes and mushrooms. Dudley wanted sausage, cheese and hamburger. Harry would usually go for tomato, onion and cheese, but sometimes he tossed peppers or bacon on.

Predictably, at 15 minutes until nine, Dudley, Vernon and Petunia would wake up, pull on clothes and waddle down the stairs to stuff their faces, just as Harry was pulling the last omelet off the frying pan.

As usual, Dudley had plans that involved his gang, and didn't involve Harry. Petunia was going shopping as soon as the mall opened and planned to stay there all day. Vernon was headed over to one of his co-worker's houses to play Poker and was expected to get home sometime around dinner.

And by the time the discussion of the day's plans had ended, Petunia had finished writing out Harry's to-do list. Harry nodded and mentioned that if Petunia got the chance to stop by the bookstore,that there was a book he'd like to have.

Petunia looked down at the list on the table that filled one full side of a piece of paper and went halfway down the back and agreed to pick up the book, provided everything on the list was finished by the time she got home.

Harry agreed and told her the title of the book (Intro to College Level Chemistry by Kimberly Istree). Aunt Petunia raised her eyebrows and Harry shrugged.

Slowly, the three Dursleys made their way off to their various destinations and left Harry with the dishes and his list. Harry carried the dishes at the table to the sink and got to work. It was going to be a long day, but the chemistry textbook might just make it worthwhile. Harry had always wondered if there was any link between Muggle Chemistry and Potions class. If he could find some common element between them, he could get a serious edge on the other students a Hogwarts. After all, he didn't think many eleven year olds would have studied Chemistry before going to Hogwarts.

Molly Weasley bustled about her kitchen, cleaning up the dishes from breakfast. Scrub brushes flew about of their own accord, scrubbing the pots and pans, while Mrs. Weasley worked with a rag and magically heated water on the plates, bowls and silverware.

Arthur had already gone off to work. Some wizard prankster had spread about a few hundred pairs of foot-eating socks amongst Muggle department stores. Muggles would buy them, and when they put them on, the sock would eat their foot. A dozen Mediwitches and Mediwizards working sixteen hours a day as well as dozens of Obliviators.

Molly sincerely hoped the Twins wouldn't grow up to be that bad. Actually, she'd settle for them growing up at all.

Molly was brought from her thoughts by some knocking at the front door. She Banished the soapy water from her hands, and opened the front door to meet the visitor.

"Hello, Molly dear. I was hoping we could speak if you have a few moments?" Albus Dumbledore greeted her.

'_Everything is at a standstill right now._' Hermione thought to him as Harry scrubbed at a particularly dirty pot. '_He's still trying to figure out where you are. The Prophet has been spreading this story about you going off to train and brought a time turner with you so you can spend more time doing it. He keeps expecting "The great Harry Potter" to pop out from the woodwork with an army. He's getting increasingly paranoid and cautious.'_

Harry gave a sort of mental nod. He wasn't even sure how he did it, but Hermione understood that Harry was indeed paying attention but didn't have any insight to add. There was a brief lull in the conversation, and suddenly Ron was thinking to him instead.

'_So, mate, when are you going to enlighten us on this beautiful master plan you have to save the world and all that junk?'_

Harry blinked. '_Us?'_ he asked.

'_Yeah. Us.'_ Another voice cut in. Ginny's.

_'How many of you have been listening?'_ Harry asked.

_'All of the above!'_ Five voices chorused in his head at the same time, followed by a stream of laughter.

Harry gave an overly dramatic sigh. _'If you all insist...' _he started. Harry didn't intend to tell his friends the entirety of his plan because he knew they wouldn't like it. At least, not his plan for once he reached Hogwarts. _'My immediate plan or long term?'_

_'Both.' _Hermione answered for the rest of the group. Harry sighed again.

'_Very well...' _he said and cleared his throat. _'As you probably know, I've spent a significant portion of my five years in this life studying and cultivating alliances.'_

_'I'm so proud!' _Hermione said, barely holding back laughter.

_'Traitor.'_ Ron muttered.

_'Anyway, you guys would be shocked at some of the stuff I know. I just finished reading a trigonometry textbook.'_

_'Trigawhat?' _Ron asked

_'It's like a Muggle version of advanced Arithmancy.'_ Hermione explained. _'Since when could you read more than five minutes from a textbook without gagging?'_

Harry mentally shrugged. _'I got over my textbook allergy. Anyway, I am going somewhere with this. Hermione, how many five-year-olds have you met that can calculate Trigonometry functions?'_

_'None.'_ Hermione answered quickly.'_I was still working on intermediate Algebra when I got to Hogwarts, and I was years ahead of the other students.'_

Harry smirked. '_So can you think of any school that would refuse me admission on any grounds except my age?' _

_'Not really. Where are you going with this?'_ Hermione answered. The other four members of the conversation seemed content to listen in, letting Hermione squeeze him for information.

_'A moment, a moment._' Harry thought, brushing off Hermione's impatient question. _'Most schools offer scholarships to students who are gifted but cannot afford admission right?'_

_'Yes...' _Hermione was clearly impatient for him to get where he was going with this.

_'Then I could most likely get into Willams Academy for Younger Gifted Pupils without too much trouble right?' _

_'I-... Harry... Where are you going with this?'_ Hermione demanded._'What do you gain by seeing the humiliating years I went through there? The other students were-'_

Harry cut her off. _'I have everything to gain from this, Hermione. I've heard how terrible things were for you there, and I heard about the mean things that the other students did to you. To protect you from that would do you worlds of good. You trust authority figures implicitly, even when the evidence is against them because of how many times you ran to the teachers for sanctuary. It also lead you to have a hard time making new friends. It severely hampered your social skills and indirectly lead you to almost dying at the hands of the Mountain troll. Whether or not you admit it, the years you spent at that school left their mark on you. Imagine how much better you would feel having a friend before you got to Hogwarts?'_

_'I...Harry...'_ Hermione managed. _'Thank you.'_

_'I have dozens of little things like that I plan to do to make all of your lives a little easier... and to gain some new friends and allies in addition to all that. I plan to befriend Ginny in her first year and get her to meet Luna and Hermione. That way she'll have a few friends and will not have to go crying to Tom. It would also mean that the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets won't have to die. I am a Parselmouth. As long as I don't use her against Voldemort directly, I should be able to exact a reasonable amount of control over her and gain a powerful ally. Just a few simple niceties would change a potentially life-threatening situation into a few powerful friendships and a new ally.'_

_'Brilliant, Mate.'_ Ron exclaimed. The other four echoed his sentiments.

_'And it's quite clever how you completely avoided talking about your long-term plans at all.' _Hermione added. _'What are you hiding from us, Harry?'_

_'Too clever, Hermione. Way too clever.' _Harry responded. _'All right... You guys won't bee too fond of this but it is all I can think of. My longest goal is to keep Voldemort from having a recruiting base. Without an army, all Voldemort is is a powerful Wizard without a body. If nobody serves him, he cannot return to a body. Simply put, I need to get rid of everyone's reason to join Voldemort. Snape and Barty Crouch Jr. joined because they were lonely. Wormtail joined out of fear. Many others joined out of a desire for power. Some more joined out of a hatred of Muggleborn and half-blood students. So, I will simply have to be powerful enough that their fear lessens, compassionate enough so that they don't feel lonely, and I will need to show them that blood means nothing. Particularly while the future recruits are young and impressionable. I... When I first came to Hogwarts, the hat wanted to put me in Slytherin. I convinced the hat not to. This time I will abide by his decision. I will become a Slyherin, and I will tear apart Voldemort's loyalty from his very recruiting grounds.'_

Even Ron felt shivers run up his spine as Harry explained his plan with fierce determination. He managed a soft '_Good luck, Mate.'_ but that was it. What a guy... he'd be willing to become a Slytherin and sacrifice all hope of a fun childhood just to save other people's lives.

Harry discovered that the entire downstairs was spotlessly clean. He was out of chores and still had three hours until Petunia returned. Since conversation was coming to an end anyway, he excused himself and ran up to his room. He wanted to spend some time reading before he had to start cooking Dinner.

_'What a guy...'_ Neville expressed to his other four friends once Harry left the conversation.

_'Yeah...'_ they echoed.


	5. Chapter 4

Too Much Time On My Hands

Chapter Four

Once Percy Weasley was told the truth about "Scabbers" and was shown the irrefutable evidence by means of the "Forced Animagus Transformation" spell he was happy to see the rat go. Aurors were called, and Peter Pettigrew was taken into custody. Six hours later, Sirius Black was released from Azkaban. He was greeted at the gate by a dozen members of the Order of the Phoenix including Albus Dumbledore and Remus Lupin.

Congratulations, pleas of forgiveness and tears of sorrow and joy were shared by all. Sirius held no grudges and forgave them all without a second thought. Together, they headed off to Diagon Alley for a five course dinner followed by everyone drinking themselves senseless.

Sirius was levitated to Hogwarts by Albus Dumbledore himself and set up in a room in the Staff Quarters. Sirius proceeded to have the most restful night of sleep he'd had in six years. He didn't wake up until Dinnertime.

Once Sirius was in bed, Albus Apparated to Privet drive. He made himself invisible, and cast a sphere of silence around himself. He let himself in the Dursley's front door and walked up the stairs. He Opened the door to Harry's room and examined the boy. He looked healthy and he was definitely happy. He was smiling in his sleep. Harry had a Chemistry textbook open and laying across his stomach. He was about halfway through. Someone had sensibly turned off the light in the room once they realized Harry was asleep.

But Harry still had his glasses on and wasn't even under his blanket. Using a nonverbal spell, Albus set Harry's glasses on his nightstand and draped Harry with his blanket. Albus also grabbed the textbook from Harry's chest and set it on the floor, using a small slip of paper from Harry's nightstand as a bookmark.

'_I wonder why Minerva is so scared of this child? Sure he's a little clever... but nothing scary about him. Just a regular little boy.' _Albus thought. He didn't notice that Harry was smirking behind Albus's retreating back.

_'That was easy.'_ Harry thought, making sure to keep his breathing level.

Dumbledore convinced Sirius to wait until he straightened his own life out before visiting Harry. That night, Sirius and Dumbledore met with a Magical Attorney. A prosecutor to be specific. Sirius wanted reimbursement from the Ministry for the years he spent in Azkaban.

Two weeks later, the specifics and details had been laid out, and charges had been brought up against the Ministry of Magic.

---------------------------------With Harry-----------------------------------------------

"Good Morning everyone!" Mrs. Kent said to her class as she walked in the door.

"Good Morning Mrs. Kent!" The Class chorused. At least, most of the class did. Dudley, Piers and Gordon remained silent, whereas Harry's voice may have been the loudest. Mrs. Kent's math class was the last class of the day, and Harry enjoyed it immensely, even though she'd only been teaching the students how to count for the last two days.

Harry had been at school for two days now, and already Dudley and company were calling Harry "The Golden Boy" and other such nonsense.

Even though it was mostly true. Already, in Mrs. Kent's eyes, Harry could do no wrong. She had realized he was smart from the very beginning. How smart, however she still wasn't sure. Harry had gone out of his way to make sure that he appeared intelligent, without going so far as to look like he was showing off. It was a fine line that he had to watch every moment. He hadn't made any friends yet, but he hadn't been trying either.

"Today we'll be learning addition." Mrs. Kent said. Harry gave a loud yawn. Most of the class laughed. Mrs. Kent glared. "Well, Mr. Potter. Why don't you come up to the board and demonstrate?" The class laughed again.

Harry sighed loudly and brought himself to his feet with exaggerated reluctance. He walked up to the board. "What problem should I solve?" he asked.

"17,956 + 111,483." Mrs. Kent answered with a smirk. She didn't notice that Harry's smirk mirrored hers.

Harry wrote out the problem on the board, and then wrote 129,439 underneath it. The correct answer, of course. Mrs. Kent looked stunned, and Harry walked back to his seat with a smile on his face.

"Mister Potter. Please wait here after class." Mrs. Kent said.

Everyone laughed at Harry, and his smile vanished. 'Oops...' he thought.

Harry sat in silence for the rest of the class as Mrs. Kent taught the class addition and they worked on adding single digit numbers together.

The bell rang. The class left. Except Harry.

"Harry." Mrs. Kent said. Her voice was very serious. "Would you be interested in taking an aptitude test? Maybe something that could put you in another grade. If you do well enough, you could transfer to another school. A private school where they would pay your tuition for you. You could be with people that are as smart as you are, instead of spending time with those way below your level."

"Yes!" Harry exclaimed. "Erm... When will it be?"

"How about tomorrow?" She asked.

"It's a date." Harry said with a wink. Mrs. Kent laughed. "Get out of here you charmer. My husband might get jealous."

Both of them laughed, and Harry slowly started to walk back to the buses.

The next day, Harry was called out of his classes just after lunchtime and taken to a classroom on the second floor. The room was mostly empty. The walls were completely white, and so was the tile floor. All it contained was a pencil, a few pieces of paper, a desk, two chairs and a man in a gray suit..

"Come in, Mister Potter." The man in the gray suit said. "I'm Mr. Barksdale, but you can call me Dave. I'm from the local Department of Education. From what I hear, you're quite the genius."

Harry laughed. "Hardly. I just solved a few math problems."

"We'll see. Sit down, and let's get started." Dave said.

Dave proceeded to explain the test and how it was to be done, the reasons for taking it and what it was measuring. Then, Harry picked up the pencil and began. He answered the questions in about thirty minutes without too much of a problem. Mr. Barksdale was smiling though. He must have done well.

"I will run these through the office, and we'll pass the results along to your teacher. We should know in a few weeks."

"Thank you, Mr. Barksdale." Harry replied

"Don't worry about it Harry. It's my job."

Harry made it through the rest of the day, but he had to admit, he was getting really bored. The bus dropped Harry and many of the other students off on Magnolia Crescent and he had to walk back to Privet Drive.

On his way back, Harry felt a sudden burning in his scar. Then, the real pain came. It felt like someone was ripping his heart apart from the inside outwards.

_'Good luck, Mate. See you in the next life.'_ the words passed through his mind and were gone, but the pain of their passing remained. Harry closed his eyes, and saw his first friend's last few moments. A flash of green light and sickening laughter. Ron Weasley was dead.

Tears flowed freely down his face, but Harry barely had time to mourn his passing. Neville was broadcasting images to him. Harry couldn't help but watch.

"See where loyalty gets you, Longbottom? Tell me boy. WHERE IS HARRY POTTER?" Voldemort demanded.

Neville spat out a green loogie. It landed on Voldemort's robes, near his chest. "Eat shit and die." was Neville's retort.

"Reducto!" Voldemort yelled. The lower left corner of his torso was now missing. Neville was still alive. Only his agony was keeping him from passing out.

"Tell me." Voldemort hissed.

"Never..." Neville managed in a weak voice. It was painfully clear that his wound was weakening him quickly.

"Crucio!"

Neville screamed. He was kicked in the ribs a few times and he heard something crack. He barely felt after the effects of the curse.

"Last chance, Longbottom. If you tell me now, then your girlfriend here will go free," Voldemort hissed.

Neville's eyes widened as two Death Eaters dragged a pregnant Luna Lovegood into the room.

"Luna...Noooo." Neville gasped.

"Don't tell him anything!" Luna shouted.

"Crucio!" one Death Eater said. Luna screamed.

"Please stop! I'll tell." Neville said in a very weak voice. He broke into a coughing fit. Blood came up. "Please... just let her go."

"Neville!"

"SILENCIO!" Voldemort cast, muting Luna.

Neville went into a coughing fit again.

"Speak." Voldemort commanded.

"Harry is..." Neville rasped. It was barely audible. He coughed a few more times spitting up more blood.

Voldemort stepped closer so he was standing over Neville.

"Harry is in..." Neville suddenly kicked Voldemprt in the knee and grabbed a hunk of his robes. Now Voldemort was going down, while his fist was going up. Neville's right fist connected with Voldemort's jaw. Neville had enough time to swing once more with his left hand. Neville's fist hit Voldemort's right eye socket. Something went "CRACK!" and a Death Eater shouted "Reducto!" Neville's head was missing from the jawbone up.

Harry only had enough strength to check if that really was Luna there with Ron and Neville. It was not. Someone was wearing a glamor or something. Luna was at her house, crying her eyes out. Hermione and Ginny were elsewhere doing the same.

Harry collapsed into his bed and cried until a few hours past sunrise. At least he didn't have school tomorrow.


	6. Chapter 5

A/n: Before we begin, I would like to explain my reasoning on the "alternate time line" thing I have going on. I've gotten a lot of questions from people who haven't understood, so I'd like to clear that up. I'm going to use an analogy involving Harry and Hermione's rescue of Sirius in Prisoner of Azkaban.

In PoA, Harry, Ron and Hermione watched Buckbeak get executed, and saw Sirius get the Dementor's Kiss. It _happened, _even though they went back and changed it later. Harry and Hermione never actually "undid" anything. They essentially split reality two different ways. There was one reality where Sirius is kissed and Buckbeak is dead, and there was another where HP and HG went back in time and "fixed" it. Who is to say that that world where Buckbeak died and Sirius got Kissed don't still exist doesn't still exist? The only element I have added is the communication between the two worlds.

If you are still confused, feel free to question me via Email or AIM and I will give a more detailed response. Thank you all for all your support. I have learned a lot since my mistake involving Power of the Millennia and will never again hold a story hostage for reviews. I see my Inbox brimming with reviews and feel as if I am being rewarded.

Thanks everyone,

Neopyro

And now, on to the story.

Too Much Time On My Hands

Chapter Five

The changes Harry's emotions went through over the next few days would have broken most mood rings. The Dursleys opened Harry's door once that weekend. They didn't open it again. The haunted look on the five year old Harry's face caused Vernon to completely forget whatever it was that he was planning to yell at Harry about and shut the door. Vernon felt an icy lump in the back of his throat just thinking about it. "Children shouldn't have that look... It's not natural." he whispered to Petunia confidentially that night in their room. It was at that time that Vernon almost felt an emotion that wasn't on the list of deadly sins. (Usually his emotional threshold was reached when he felt Pride instead of Gluttony or Greed.) That night, Vernon almost felt pity.

Harry's emotions however, were not on the same meager scale that Vernon Dursley's were usually measured on. It's astounding how you can get from one emotional extreme to another given the proper mindset.

Harry's sadness shifted to guilt, self-pity, depression and depression. But each of those emotions left almost as quickly as it had arrived. They didn't fit, and Harry knew perfectly well that this would happen when he walked through the rift into this period in time. His friends knew it too. It was one thing he was truly certain of.

It was then that Harry recognized the emotion that did fit.

It was rage. His veins felt like they were pumping magma instead of blood. Every hair on his body seemed to stand erect as magic crackled through it. It was all he could do to keep himself from blowing everything he saw to bits.

But destroying inanimate objects also had no purpose. And Harry felt his anger freeze. It solidified into something tangible that he could measure out and use when the time was right. His anger became something new and different. It became determination. If his motivation was measured in heat... then say his old work ethic measured up to that of a bonfire on a warm summer day. His new work ethic, measured in the same terms was equal to a meteor of pure, flaming magnesium crashing into a refinery in a flashfire zone. Next to a cardboard manufacturing company. And an oil distillery.

Harry threw himself into his books and whatever books he could access at the school library with grim determination. True, two of his friends had died, and likely three more would follow. That didn't mean that Harry would let it happen a second time.

His reading speed must have tripled. His information retention levels were at an all-time high. Vernon did a good thing for Harry that next week albiet for all the wrong reasons. Still it didn't negate the benefits.

Vernon bought Harry a membership card to library for a prestigious London college and promised two trips a month. The reason was that it ended up being cheaper than buying Harry books all the damn time. And it gave Harry reason to work even harder around the house.

To Harry, it hardly mattered. He cleaned, he ate, he slept, he studied and he went to school. Other than breathing and using the bathroom, that was pretty much all he did. He had no free time. Everything he did was done efficiently. While he cleaned, Harry plotted Voldemort's demise. While he slept, he dreamed up new schemes to improve the quality of life of everyone he loved. He ran his schemes past his remaining friends and they helped him think. Though they had all but given up hope for their own world, that did not mean that they had given up their faith in Harry. They too spent their time studying for Harry. The mind link allowed him to process information they read just as fast as they did. He could learn magic while scrubbing the Dursley's toilet! What was better was that the link allowed all three of them to be reading into his mind at the same time.

Weeks faded into months. Harry vaguely remembered getting perfect scores on the evaluation test, and getting accepted for the next year into Williams Academy. Hermione's school. Paid in full by the school, of course. Halloween passed by. Then Christmas, New Year's and Valentine's day.

Time flew by and Harry learned faster than he'd ever imagined. His three friends must have read the entire restricted section of the Hogwarts library to him. At least, it felt like it.

One day in early March, there was a knock at the door to his room while he was studying.

"Harry, there's a man at the front door here to see you. He's in a very nice suit, so I expect he's from the school board, or perhaps that fancy school you got admitted to." Aunt Petunia explained.

"Thanks, Aunt Petunia." Harry responded, closing his Anatomy and Physiology textbook. It was the Library's and a few years out of date, but that didn't mean that the body parts had changed. Harry expected most of this stuff would be very helpful in healing, which was a discipline of magic he had never delved into in his former life.

Harry walked from the second bedroom and reached the front door.

"Hello." Harry said, rubbing his eyes and stifling a yawn. He'd been up rather late the last few nights reading. Actually he'd been up late for the last few months. Whatever. "What can I do for you?"

The glare from the near sunset sun obscured most of his view of the person outside the door He was back lit in just the wrong way. His eye crud did the rest. Like the typical five year old, he removed the crumbly green intruders from his eyes and looked again at his visitor.

It was all he could do to restrain his emotions. He wanted nothing more that to leap forward and hug the man who stood outside the screen door. He wanted to cry into his shoulder and explain everything that was wrong with the world.

But he couldn't do that. Harry in this world didn't know who Sirius was.

Sirius, however despite his expensive suit was gawking. His jaw was slack. Harry almost checked behind himself for a nude model. Still, Sirius answered after only a brief pause.

"My name is Sirius Black, Harry. I'm your godfather." Sirius responded. "I'm here to... well if you want it that is...I'm here to offer you a new home... and to explain to you about... everything."

As it turned out, Sirius won his case versus the Ministry, and got even more money than he'd expected.

Four years of his salary as an Auror, plus interest for the entire time added up to be roughly 60,000 Galleons.(300,000 GBP or $575,000 USD.) The ministry paid him about nine times that amount. 545,963 galleons once legal fees were subtracted. Sirius immediately went out and bought himself a house. He furnished it, and got everything he'd ever dreamed of wanting. Or close to it anyway. He still had 350,000 galleons left in his Gringotts account.Now that Sirius had regained what he could of his old life (he was willing to be Harry's full time father, and thusly waited to talk to him before getting a job. Or something to do at any rate. He couldn't sit home alone for the rest of his life.)

Dumbledore had agreed to let Sirius adopt Harry under two conditions. The conditions were that Harry agree to the adoption and that Sirius enact some old and very powerful magic to make them of the same blood, so that the blood wards could transfer to Harry's new residence.Sirius (of course) agreed to both without a moment's notice and went off to see Harry for the first time since 1981.

Harry smiled his best "I'm a little kid" smile.

"Come on in. I don't think my Aunt and Uncle will mind too much so long as we talk in my room. She's cleaning right now." Harry said.

Sirius nodded before adding a weak "Lead on." Sirius followed Harry into his room, and really did explain everything. Harry asked the typical questions and feigned the typical denial at all the right moments. They laughed and talked for the next few hours. Sirius eventually had to leave, but promised to return at some later date, and mentioned that Harry didn't have to make a decision immediately, but his door was always open if Harry should need it. Harry had already figured out his answer. He'd even figured out what lie to tell his Aunt and Uncle about why he'd be leaving at the beginning of Summer vacation.

Somehow, seeing Sirius again, had hardened his resolve. He wouldn't let Siius die again. No matter what.


	7. Chapter 6

A/n: Wow! This is so exciting! I have critics! CRITICS! I love it! Allright, now it is time for me to appease them. Last chapter, I made a mistake in my analogy of explaining the dual timellines. There was a hole in my logic. Most of my Critics brought up roughly the same points which were: #1 Harry never saw Buckbeak getting executed. He merely heard the thump of an axe and Hagrid's cries. #2 Harry never saw Sirius get executed, and he actually saved Sirius before he got the kiss. #3 If all time travel creates this dual timeline thing, then How was Harry able to save himself from the Dementors?

Very excellent points, and to which I have only one response. I was wrong. My theory that I presented last chapter has some major fundamental flaws that need re-working. I have, however thought up an explanation to fix this. But not a complete answer, just a minor explanation.

If you recall from the earlier chapters, Harry did not, in fact come through the portal in a solid form. He was a spirit, with very little or no solidity. He joined his spirit (which due to the effects of his spell contained all the knowledge, personality and, I was planning on revealing this later, but his magical power. That, at least explains Why there aren't multiple Harrys running around Privet Drive.

Although, I have to say, why am I clinging stubbornly to the thought that this is time travel? I could that Harry entered a new world, a new universe... Or even created the world himself just by imagining it. Why should I cling to the belief that this is time travel, despite everyone understanding more rules about time-space travel than I do.

I'll tell you why. To make this an alternate universe... well it almost feels like cheating. It's like having a murder mystery that introduces a clue in the last chapter to prove who the murderer is. Or, even worse: they introduce the Murderer as a character you hadn't seen before. The reader has no chance to solve the mystery, and it's not very sporting. The writer should have to give the readers a chance to pick apart his/her works and analyze them. How else will the writer get better?

I have two closing statements to make. The first is: I have already admitted I was wrong about the time travel theory... but not totally wrong. I would like some of you brilliant minds to work out a way to make this happen my way. Specifically I want it to be done in a way that does not include fate, or erase free will. I believe in split time lines. And I believe in free will. I explain this by saying that each and every person is making their decisions, exactly as they would make them in each of those timelines. Specifically, there are different versions of each person that are thinking their way through each choice as they choose. There is no invisible hand guiding them, and there is no fate sitting there knowing exactly what they were gong to do all along. The reason Divination is an Art, not a science is because Divination is vague and imprecise. It can predict that a specific event must happen, but how it is done is sill up to the people of the prophecy. It does not eliminate free will and Time Travel should not either.

The second is: I really love critics. I want to see people consciously thinking over my work. I want to hear about how it can be better. I want to hear what I did wrong. If you see something I did that annoys you... TELL ME! I want you to explain in excruciating detail just how bad I screwed up. Be a critic. Be a flame. Rip my work to shreds with your sharp tongue and clever analysis. Then I can rebuild it, stronger and more logical than ever before.

I conclude with my thanks to the seven critics who pointed out that I was wrong. Six by review, one by PM. Applaud them, and let them be your examples and role models, for they are brilliant. Far smarter and sharper than I.

Thanks to:

Harryfan

Natoz

the DragonBard

AiSard

Japanese-Jew

Triggerbox

Lionheart

Although Lionheart was closer to suggestions, and less like criticism, he (or she?) still belongs on this list, for the suggestions were very helpful.

Also, thanks to all my other wonderful reviewers. While critics are great and help a lot, I still need my moral support. That's why you guys are there, right? XD

Too Much Time On My Hands

Chapter Six

Sirius walked down Privet drive, deep in thought. 'Lily's genes really kicked in.' he thought. 'I can't even pronounce half of the things that he's been reading... Still, he came off to me as even lonelier than I am. Maybe books are all that he can turn to? Still... that glint he had in his eyes... I'll make a Marauder of him yet.'

Sirius Apparated himself to the edge of the Hogwarts wards and headed up towards Dumbledore's office. He would schedule with the Headmaster his next visit to Harry's house, and convince Harry to come. But only if he wanted to of course. Sirius would support Harry, even if he wanted to live in a beehive. As a Godfather, he would caution Harry to the dangers of living with bees, and he would watch out for him, and be ready for a bee sting reliever potion when things got bad.

But he would not infringe on Harry's decisions. He wasn't Harry's father. He was his Guardian. There was a difference between them. A big one, or so it felt. He knew he could never replace James and Lily.

But he could still do his best to help Harry along the way.

----------------------------------------With Harry-------------------------------------------------

Harry came back down from his room and entered the kitchen.

"You were right, he was from the school." Harry said to his Aunt. "There's this big orientation thing they want us to go through. He said I will have to leave and go to school at the beginning of Summer vacation. All expenses paid. He said he was my counselor from the school and would check up on me periodically. Apparently, I scored really high on the test and they've decided I'm a special case and are going to keep a close watch on me."

"Well if they provide transportation and you're going for free, I don't see why you can't go." His aunt replied.

"Thanks, Aunt Petunia!" Harry exclaimed cheerfully. "You said you wanted me to clean out the rain gutters today, right?"

"Yes."

"OK, I'll get the ladder. Let me know if you need anything else." Harry announced, and went off to work.

Once Harry was safely on the roof, and the trash can was under him Harry reached across his mind link, and found Hermione.

_'Hermione!'_ Harry mentally exclaimed. _'It worked! My plan worked.'_

_'Which plan?' _She asked. Harry dumped a bucket full of wet, gunky leaves into the open trashcan below him.

_'I saved Sirius!'_

_'Harry, that's great! What happened?'_

_'See, I sent an owl to Dumbledore explaining about how Scabbers was Wormtail. Anonymously, of course. Sirius just visited my house in this life explaining everything. The paperwork for his adoption of me should be complete by the end of the school year._'

_'I... That's great Harry. Really great.' _she responded.It suddenly became clear to Harry that she was annoyed with him. Harry idly wondered why he hadn't caught on earlier.

_'Hermione... what's wrong?'_ Harry felt the line suddenly go... cold. Anger. She was very angry and had been holding it back.

_'Why do you think?'_ Hermione lashed out. _'You've left us all here to die, Harry! Your decision to run away and fight again another day has already cost the lives of Ron, Neville, Tonks, Kingsley, Remus, and Ron's parents! It's all well and good that you're saving that world, Harry, but what about this one?'_

Then, Harry did the unexpected. He laughed. He felt Hermione's anger flare over the link. Harry regained control over himself_. 'I can't believe you haven't figured it out yet. OK, let me explain. I've already explained that I think all the magic I had in our world came with me to this world, letting me get even stronger because I will go through all my developmental steps again, leading me to be twice as powerful as I was when I cast that spell to send me here. What's to stop me from casting it again once I defeat Voldemort here? The only thing I would need to do is change the date and location it's set for. In Twelve years, your memories are suddenly going to change. More accurately, the timeline there will suddenly back up a total of sixteen years. Just as the five of you are about to pass out, you will see the portal re-open and you will see me step back out of it. I'll take you all to the hospital wing and we'll go through the seventh year of school together. I'll leave Hogwarts with the knowledge of a man twice my age and quite powerful. I would never leave you to your own devices... This is just a temporary thing. Just like Buckbeak's death was a temporary thing. How Sirius's capture was temporary. Here's the better part. Even if things look bleak in this world... I could always do it again. I could live my life through fifty times and accumulate the powers of fifty seventeen year old Harry Potters. If I wanted that is. But I don't. Ultimate power is overrated. I just want to be back with my friends. The people who love me. I'll save you all Hermione. This is just a temporary step.'_

Harry felt a few tears running down his face. The guilt he felt from having to put his friends through this... even once was enough to choke the strongest of men. Harry wasn't the strongest of men yet. He was only five in this world. The world started to spin, and his feet slid out from under him, Harry went over the edge of the roof... and down.

A/n: HAH! Nice cliffie, neh? Now that I've explained what Harry is going to do (cause there were some complaints about Harry abandoning his friends, I decided to reveal this prematurely.) things should get more interesting. Review please? Thanks!


	8. Chapter 7

A/n: Sorry about last chapter, everyone. Usually, I set my chapter length by the word count button. I usually shoot for 1700-2300 words per chapter. Problem was, I forgot to factor in just how big the Author's note was. I'll try and keep them short, while keeping my chapters longer. Sorry to bug you.

Also, I received a suggestion to start a Harry Harem instead of any specific pairings. I'm not adverse to the idea... In fact, I find it relatively amusing. What do you all think?

P.s. This one is nice and long to make up for the crappy one. You guys need to get used to the fact that my chapter lengths will fluctuate. There will be short chapters and there will be long ones. It'll all balance out in the end.

Too Much Time On My Hands

Chapter Seven

CRUNCH! CRACK! Screeeeeeeeeeee! THUD! Thump!

The "CRUNCH!", was Harry falling off the roof and landing in the big two-wheeled trashcan that he'd been dumping the wet leaves into. The "CRACK!" was Harry's arm hitting the side of the can on the way down and breaking. The "Screeeeeeeeeee!" was the trashcan overbalancing from his momentum, and the "THUD!" was the trashcan's impact with the pavement. The "Thump!" was the lid slamming shut once it hit the ground.

"Bugger." Harry managed. His arm was clearly broken. Wincing, Harry straightened his arm (which was currently in an "L" shape and willed some of his magic to flow into it. The entire trashcan illuminated like he'd just turned on a spotlight for a brief moment. Then the light was gone and his arm was back into its natural shape. It still twinged a bit though.

A moment later, light returned, but this time not from his arm. Uncle Vernon had opened the trash can lid.

"What in the bloody hell was that?" Vernon asked, his mammoth head seeming to block the entire trash can hole (Though the damn thing must have been at least 3' x 3'.)

"Fell off the roof. Landed in the can. All right though." Harry said, managing a sheepish grin.

"Not that. That was bloody obvious. I was talking about the light." Vernon replied with a scowl.

"Bugger me if I know. Maybe there's a flashlight in the bottom I stepped on?" Harry stated with a shrug. "'scuse me."

Vernon backed up so Harry could crawl out. He continued to eye Harry suspiciously for the rest of the day.

Vernon eventually dismissed his suspicions, but it did make for an uncomfortable few days.

Weeks went by faster than Harry had expected. Sirius visited regularly, and on his fourth visit, Harry broke down and gave him a hug and said "I would love to live with you." Harry took advantage of the fact that he was five and cried for the first time in years.

The summer holidays came up eerily fast. Harry spoke with his friends every day... sometimes several times a day to plot and sometimes just to talk. All three of his remaining friends were under a lot of pressure and were furious at Voldemort. Their grief had turned into pure fury... and Harry was certain that Hermione was hiding something from him. Harry suspected that they had a plan. A plan that he wouldn't like. Still, Harry was sure that he would find out soon enough... one way or the other.

Then, after what seemed like weeks of waiting, that fateful day came. The day that Sirius would take him home.

Harry woke up with almost half an hour before Sirius was supposed to arrive. Thankfully, Harry had packed the night before. Harry scarfed down a brief breakfast and took a fast shower. He was just tying his shoes when Sirius came to the door. Sirius came up and helped Harry with his trunks. (he had a total of three: two for books and one for everything else he owned.)

When they all were downstairs, in front of the door Harry went around and said his goodbyes to his Aunt, Uncle and Cousin. They were very brief with virtually no emotion.

Harry took one trunk while Sirius took the other two. They piled the trucks into the back of a black minivan Harry hopped into the passenger seat, Sirius hopped into the driver's seat and they drove off into the distance.

"So..." Harry started. "Where do you... sorry... _we_ live?"

"Well, I'm not sure if you'd know where this is, but I have a decent sized house on the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland. There's a magical street nearby similar to Diagon Alley. It's called Beast Road.

"Ireland? How will we get to Ire-" Harry started to ask. Suddenly, Harry got pushed back against his seat by centrifugal force. Harry kept his mouth shut tightly for fear of swallowing his tongue. Outside the windshield, things blew by at an astounding rate of speed. Harry though it vaguely looked like the hyperspace drive from Star Wars.

Then there was a slight pop, and everything ground to a halt. Harry shut his mouth again, this time to keep his stomach from popping out of his throat.

Harry was breathing heavily, and he managed to say a single word. "Cooooool!"

Sirius chuckled. "Welcome home, Harry."

Harry looked up, and found himself sitting in front of a four door garage attached to a house big enough to eat four or five houses on Privet Drive and still have room for dessert.

"Whoa..." Harry said, with the same amount of surprise that a five year old was supposed to have.

"Shall we?" Sirius inquired, his eyes twinkling like Dumbledore's.

Harry nodded enthusiastically. Siruis opened the back of the trunk with a wave of his wand. He levitated all three of Harry's trunks , and the van door closed behind them.

The front door of the house swung open with a click, and Siruis walked inside. Harry followed, and his three trunks trailed in behind them.

Harry was awestruck. "Decent sized house you said...Understatement of the century."

Sirius looked slightly bashful. "Do you like it?"

"Like it? No Sirius." Harry responded, watching his face droop. "I love it!"

Sirius's face lit up. "You play dirty... I can see your father's genes coming through. I was afraid that you had been completely consumed by Lily's bookish ways. We'll make a marauder of you yet!"

"Marauder, _n. _A rover in search of plunder or booty; a plunderer; a freebooter." Harry recited. "You want to make me into a thief?"

"What? No... The Marauders were a legendary group of pranksters that your father and I were members of. You'll meet the third member later tonight possibly. I'll explain in full detail later, but we've got some other stuff to do first."

"Other stuff?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. This house has two Master bedrooms, hence the reason I got it. You have three rooms to yourself. A bathroom, a bedroom, and an extra room. I assumed that you would want it to be more of a library..."

"A LIBRARY!" Harry exclaimed. "I have a library?"

"Yeah... and I'm going to leave it to you to fill it. How about I give you an hour to unpack and then we'll head on down to Beast Road." Harry nodded enthusiastically.

'It's happening!' Harry thought. 'It's really happening!'

Harry's room turned out to be massive. He had a king sized bed with the headboard against the back wall, a massive wooden writing desk already stocked with parchment, quills, and ink, Two dressers, two nightstands, a closet, and a pair of shelves. Next to his desk, there was a laundry chute that dumped straight into the Laundry Room.

Harry unpacked his two trunks of books (it filled a quarter of one bookshelf.) and placed the two empty trunks in open areas along his wall. His clothes were already folded and Harry simply moved them into one of his wardrobes. He placed the third empty trunk in another empty spot along the wall and proceeded to check out his library.

Harry marveled at the massive number of empty bookshelves. Bookshelves on the entire outer wall. There were four more rows of bookshelves , reaching a hollowed out square in the middle of the room reserved for a long wooden table, and ten chairs arranged around it.

Harry grinned and ran down the stairs, ready to leave.

Sirius was waiting for him in the entrance hall.

"OK, here's the plan. Let me know if you want any changes made. We need to stock the fridge with foods you like, fill your library, get whatever you need for your room, get you an owl, get you a broom, take you to the Quidditch pitch and lastly, swing by and give ol' Moony a visit." Sirius explained.

"Plan seconded and passed in its current form!" Harry agreed cheerfully. Sirius laughed, and they headed out for the day.

Sirius lead Harry down the road. After two blocks, he made a right turn onto a small side street with a brick wall at the other side. A dead end. There were a few doors to the left and right and a dumpster. Other than that...nothing.

Sirius, however walked up to the brick wall, and passed through it, just like the barrier at King's Cross. Harry followed and walked inside.

Harry's senses were immediately besieged by so many amazing smells, sights and sounds. There was a massive, two-story pet shop labeled "Strum's Pets and Other Creatures." and a Quidditch shop labelled "Alby Bludgered." Food shops of all kinds had outside displays of their food being cooked, and even free samples.

Sirius gave a brief description of every store they passed and answered many of Harry's questions.

"What are those staircases?" Harry asked, pointing to one of the many spiral staircases they'd passed that lead underground.

"Ahh... Those lead to Burr Road. There's a few more shops down there. A bit more closely monitored than up here. There's an open market going on all day and all night down there. Rumor has it that you can find anything from ancient and powerful magical artifacts down there, to complete rubbish that doesn't work at all. There's also a connection to the London Underground down there. It's an entirely magical station, and five times a day, an empty Muggle whatsits pulls up down there and once people file in, it re-appears somewhere near High Street Kensington station, and continues along the rails as if it had been on there the whole time. Like a modified Portkey, sort of."

Harry nodded, and followed Sirius up the white steps leading into the Dublin branch of Gringotts. Sirius lead Harry past a few dozen counters with goblins at them, and up to a counter near the back of the main room. The Goblin before him had a long, thin nose and lots of short white hairs on his head.

"Sirius Black's vault, please." Sirius said, handing a small, golden key to the Goblin.

The Goblin looked Sirius over, like he was some sort of thief or prankster before nodding and summoning a younger and less hairy goblin over.

The goblin lead them on a roller-coaster ride tour of the tunnels below Gringotts before stopping at vault 1167.

The vault was piled high with gold. It didn't take Harry long to realize that Sirius must have sold Grimmauld place and added the Black family fortune to this bank. There were more Galleons in this vault than he had in his vault, and that was saying something.

Sirius took a massive bag full of gold... at least five thousand. Maybe more. And he charmed it weightless and shrunk it and put it in his pocket.

"Today's on me Harry. Consider it five Christmases and Birthdays worth of presents that I missed... plus interest."

Harry grinned, and both of them leaned back and screamed with joy as they rode the roller coaster-esque Gringotts cart.

A smile played at the corner of the Goblin's mouth when Harry asked "Can this thing go any faster?"

The Goblin pulled some seemingly random lever and said "Hold on tight."

Harry and Sirius's gleeful screams could be heard in the lobby as the Goblin took them back by a much longer route than necessary.

Harry had the feeling that he was really going to love his time with Sirius.

Over the course of the afternoon, Harry bought a large portion of the stock of "Wormling's Book Emporium." The core subject book for every magical subject he could find. Even some that were quite obscure. Hogwarts: a History and all copies of the standard book of spells as well as a book on Occulmency, Legillimency, Animagi, Magical Transportation, Hexes, permanent Curses, Magical languages (Mermish, Gobbledegook and some of the older rune-based languages to name a few) and that was before he stumbled across a dusty section labeled "Obscure."

"Evocation for beginners" "Ingenious Illisuions" "Enchanting Enchantments: make everything just that much better" "Advanced Abjuration" "Basic Magical Principle" "Rudamentary Magic" and "Why Wizards are magical...and How to get better" were amongst the dozens of titles he grabbed. Sirius shelled out close to seven hundred galleons... (after the massive discount he got for "cleaning out that god-forsaken rat's nest of Magical theory books" of course.) Sirius arranged for the books to be sent to the house.

Harry practically skipped out of the store. They stopped by "Alby Bludgered's Quidditch store" after that, where Sirius picked up a broom. A Thunderbolt.

'Must be a precursor to the Firebolt.' Harry thought.

Sirius carried the broom over one shoulder and promised to teach Harry how to fly when they got to the Quidditch pitch later.

"You need something that can deliver letters." Sirius told Harry as they left the Quidditc shop. "So walk on in to Strum's and pick something that flies. I'll be in sortly. I have to swing by the Apothecary. Remus is out of Wolfsbane, and I need to stock up on... well, everything. I don't even have a cauldron yet."

Harry nodded and walked into the store and started looking around for something that caught his eye. He walked away from the owls in the front of the store... Harry admitted that it felt dirty to own another owl after Hedwig. It was like he was cheating on her with another one. So, he headed into the back of the store to see if there was something else. Something... different.

_Disgraceful, disgraceful... being locked in a cage. Oh how my ancestors would laugh..._

Harry heard coming from a nearby bird's cage. It seemed to be a parrot, and it was hissing. It was speaking... Parseltongue!


	9. Chapter 8

A/n: in order to keep complaints down, I'm going to attempt to hit the 3000 word mark with this chapter. Lets see if I can manage it.

Too Much Time On My Hands

Chapter Eight

'_You speak Parseltongue?' _Harry asked, looking at the "Parrot" in shock.

'_You speak Parseltongue?'_ It asked back, equally shocked.

Harry raised an eyebrow. _'You're not really a bird, are you?'_ Harry asked.

_'And I imagine you have a few secrets of your own, young one. Tell me, do you travel through time often?'_

Harry let out a sharp gasp. _'How-'_ Harry started to ask.

'_Buy me, and let me out of this damnably confounding magic-proof cage and I'll tell you.'_

This did, of course kill two birds with one stone. "How much for that one?" Harry asked the clerk.

"Twenty Galleons, and it's a steal if you ask me... although the little bugger nearly ripped my hand off the other day... Tell ya what... you can have him for fifteen so long as I never have to see the little bastard again."

"See something you like, Harry?" Sirius asked.

Harry pointed to the mysterious Parseltongue speaking parrot.

"He's a pretty one isn't he? We'll take him." Sirius told the clerk.

The clerk looked like he wanted to do a backflip. He took the cage down from the rack as quickly as he could. He even held the door for Sirius and Harry as they left.

'Heh heh...Suckers.' The clerk thought as they left.

_'We'll talk when we get home, not now.'_ Harry hissed in a low voice.

Instead of responding in Parseltongue, the parrot nodded. 'Subtle...' Harry thought.'I like him already.'

Harry missed the smirk all across his new bird's face.

"So, where to next?" Harry asked.

Sirius just grinned. "Next, we're going to do something not quite legal. Stay close though..." Sirius added as a precaution.

Harry followed his Godfather down the winding spiral staircase and into Burr Road. As it turned out, Burr road was laid out just like a Muggle Flea Market. Without the tents though, as it was underground. It was dimly lit, and Harry could head a faint "Drip, drip, drip" of water in the distance. Most of the vendors sold their things on blankets or tarps. A few of the better off vendors had small stands, maybe with a few walls (or at least blankets draped to form walls) though it _was_ blatantly obvious that the only purpose of said walls was to hide what went on inside them.

They entered one of these dimly lit walled enclosures and Harry nearly laughed at what he saw.

It was a wand shop. There were only a few hundred wands here, whereas Ollivander's had tens of thousands.

"What'll it be?" he man behind the counter asked. He had a gruff voice and positively reeked of booze. His breath was like carrion in the midday sun. His entire body was shrouded in darkness. Harry imagined there were a few charms involved in addition to the natural darkness of the tent to obscure him that thoroughly.

"A trackless wand for a young one." Sirius replied.

"Trackless eh? You know that costs extra, Mr. Black." The clerk replied, letting another wave of his breath assault his customers nostrils.

"I do. Let him try them. No corrosive woods, this time, I hope?" Sirius inquired.

"Of course not. That was my last Hydrochloric-Oak wand!" The clerk insisted. He followed with a laugh that caused Harry's stomach to lurch. The clerk laid out a series of twenty or so wands that he grabbed from a bucket behind the counter. Like he was dealing cards, he flipped them one by one onto the glass counter-top where they laid in a fan formation. The clerk had way too much time on his hands to practice things like that.

Sirius shook his head. "Harry, start taking wands from the counter and waving them once or twice. If they don't work, put them down and try another."

Harry nodded and reached out his right hand and grasped the wand furthest on the left. It felt cold in his hands, almost like it was made of ice. Harry almost didn't want to wave it. The wand felt... dark. Still, he gave it a shot, pointing it towards the ceiling. A black bolt of corrosive energy shot out of the wand and ripped a hole straight through the roof, and several feet of the concrete ceiling above it.

"Not that one." the clerk said, and Harry set it down.

Harry took a second wand, and felt almost no response from it. Like it was the squib of the wand world. Harry gave it a flick, and it managed a weak "Lumos" before flickering out and letting out a small belch of sparks and steam.

"Nope."

Harry took another... and accidentally summoned a swarm of bees when he waved it. Sirius cast a well controlled "Incendio" and the swarm was replaced by a few smoking insect corpses on the ground.

Harry tried the next sixteen wands with plenty of luck... all of it bad. Of the bunch, the one that turned everything it pointed at into a chicken was possibly the best. Still, there was one wand left, and Harry couldn't help but feel optimistic.

Harry's hand closed around the cold, black handle and he felt a most curious feeling. It was like every hair on his body was standing on end. Harry lit up like flaming hunk of magnesium, and Sirius and the clerk both had to shield their eyes. The light faded away and everyone blinked a few times. There was the distant rumble of approaching thunder... yet one hundred feet up, in Beast Road, there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Sirius bought the wand and threw in an extra few Galleons for a wrist holster for the wand. He carried the wand saying he'd teach Harry to use it at home.

The two of them didn't mention the incident in the wand shop, but both made their way up the staircase.

"Pick your four favorite colors." Sirius said suddenly. "For clothes." he added, to ease the confusion factor a bit.

"Erm... Black, Green, Blue and maybe... I dunno, Silver?" Harry answered.

"Ok... You've got four new robes winging themselves your way. I'm not feeling up for clothes shopping, but for now, we can owl-order you four regular robes so that you don't look like some silly Muggle while out and about with wizards. I figure that some girls we know will eventually kidnap you and take you clothes shopping. The robes are just to stave off disaster."

Harry nodded his understanding. Without a verbal response, Sirius moved on to the next topic.

"And now, we need to cover the next most important order of business: FOOD!"

"Food!" Harry agreed, getting caught up in the emotion of Sirius's cheer.

Sirius placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, and Apparated them both to an alley behind a Muggle supermarket.

"Harry, we have two refrigerators, two pantries and two freezers to fill. You get two carts worth of stuff, and I'll get three. Toilet paper, and spices and stuff for the third one so it doesn't count as food. Get anything you want. I don't know how to cook, and you probably don't know two much either. We can learn together!"

"I learned a little." Harry confessed. "Still, not much. Do you know anybody who does know? Maybe they can teach us."

"Good idea... Maybe... Nah... we'll figure it out later." Sirius said.

"Hey..." Harry said. He'd just gotten a hilarious idea. "Have you ever seen that game show where they have all those Muggles with shopping carts and they race to fill their carts with stuff and get them to the finish?"

"No... but I like where you're going with this." Sirius encouraged.

"How about a race, Mr. Black. Each of us fills our two carts and parks them in a designated spot. The rule is, you have to get good, edible food (or drink). If there is food in a cart that neither party will eat (or drink), that player has to go and put that food back. The person at the meeting spot with both their carts filled with no inedible foods (or nasty drinks) inside first wins. Loser has to do some heinous deed of the winner's choosing. Say, for instance purchasing a few hundred boxes of women's hygiene napkins and telling everyone who asks not to ask questions... Of course we couldn't use that one since I mentioned it but you get the idea."

Sirius ruffled Harry's hair. "You are truly Prongs's son! We'll meet back here, near the registers."

"OK. On your mark... get set... HEY!" Harry exclaimed. Sirius had started off without him.

The race ended in record time. In five minutes both Harry and Sirius had filled both carts to the brim with delicious eats. Though Harry arrived at the finish line twenty seconds before Sirius, he was disqualified when he found out he'd accidentally grabbed a case of Tab instead of Jolt. Harry had to put the indigestible fluid back and ended up losing.

As punishment, Harry had to walk up to the most beautiful clerk in the store (in this case, a drop-dead gorgeous brunette with pretty blue eyes and a very tight shirt) and say use a cheesy pick-up line. In this case it was "I'm sorry, I lost my phone number. Can I have yours?"

This got the entire checkout line laughing, and Harry walked back to the carts with a full blush on his face. Sirius was holding his stomach from lack of breath. Too much laughing. Harry managed a menacing glare and said "Don't cry when it's my turn." Sirius actually gulped.

All the food was transported back to the house and put away. Both of them were fairly amused at their similar tastes in food. There was no less than twenty pounds of potatoes combined from their two carts.

Afterwards, Sirius invited Remus over for a dinner.

"I'll cook tonight, Harry. There is one dish that I learned to cook properly. I'll make that. Why don't you go put your books on their shelves, and I imagine your new Parrot is dying to stretch his wings. He'll need a name too."

"Thanks Sirius!" Harry exclaimed and went upstairs.

Harry shut his door and the first thing he did was walk over to his new caged parrot.Harry opened the door to the cage and the relieved bird hopped out and flew a few laps around the room.

_'Thank goodness!'_ the bird exclaimed in Parseltongue. '_I thought I'd never get out of that damn shop. My thanks to you, human.'_

_'No worries.' _Harry assured it. '_Although... I was wondering what exactly you were. Most birds don't speak Snake language.'_

_'Ahh... Well that is something better explained visually... here!'_

Harry blinked, and in place of the green and yellow parrot he'd bought was a shiny white snake with feathered wings that must have been every color of the rainbow, not to mention a few Harry had never seen before.

Harry blinked. Twice. _'So you're a rainbow-winged flying white snake that can turn into a parrot? I don't get it...'_ Harry hissed.

Harry's new "pet" made a slight nose of disgust. _'Disrespectful humans... Ah. Here!'_

A copy of "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" that Harry had bought earlier that day launched itself across the room and landed in Harry's lap. It opened of its own volition, and flipped pages rapidly before stopping on a specific page.

_'There! Read.'_ the winged snake insisted.

Harry read aloud. "Coatl. These highly intelligent and magical creatures were once quite common in all temperate and tropical areas of the world. They have many magical talents, including shapeshifting, invisibility, invulnerability to fire and a variety of powerful psychic abilities. When their fangs and scales were found to be quite powerful potions ingredients, the Coatl proceeded to change themselves into non-magical animals and live as if they were not in fact, Coatl simply to protect their species. Their bite is highly toxic, and they can travel long distances magically in a way quite similar to that of Phoenixes and house elves. A name for this method of travel has yet to be decided upon.The number of Coatl in the world is completely a mystery as one has not been sighted in its natural form in several centuries."

There was also a pencil drawing of a Coatl, since no actual pictures were available.

_'Amazing...'_ Harry managed. _'Erm... Do you have a name?'_

_'I do. My name is The-One-Who-Nurtures-Our-Future-And-All-Hope.'_ The Coatl said in a dignified voice.

_'I can't remember all that!' _Harry exclaimed

_'Then shorten it... but keep it dignified.'_ The Coatl replied.

'_How about Townofaah? Or, Rather T.O.W.N.O.F.A.A.H? The first letter of each part of your name.'_

_'Townofaah? It sounds... Regal. I like it. You may address me as Townofaah.'_

_'Erm...Townofaah. Do you recommend me introducing you to my Godfather?'_

_'Of course, young Master... You have a lot to learn. Deception only breeds distrust. Besides, surely you don't think I wish to stay as that inferior...bird for the rest of my natural life, do you?'_

_'Of course not! I just... All right... let's go meet Sirius.'_

Harry walked down the stairs with Townofaah draped around his neck and shoulders like an elegant scarf.

"Erm... Sirius, I have a few things I need to tell you." Harry said awkwardly.

"Shoot." Sirius replied, not turning away from the stove.

"Well... You know the Parrot I got today? Turns out he wasn't a parrot. I knew because he could talk to me, and I can only speak English and Snake Language. I found what he really looks like in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. He's a Coatl.."

Sirius turned around to see if Harry was messing with him. He got one look at the rainbow-winged snake and promptly dropped his ladle in shock.

"I...allright." Sirius managed, placing aside his usual distrust for Parselmouths. Harry wasn't evil... he was Lily and James's son. "Make sure you keep him warm, as snakes are cold-blooded."

Harry nodded.

And that was that. Sirius prepared his one and only dish:spaghetti with Meatballs. Apparently he tried it when he was younger and loved it so much that he paid for a chef to teach him how to make it.

Sirius turned back to the stove and they passed about random amusing stories. Mostly it was Sirius talking, but Harry was just fine with that.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang.

"Harry, answer that please. It'll just be Remus." Sirius said, struggling to pour the pot of boiling hot noodles into the strainer.

Harry opened the door and saw Remus in ratty old robes, looking as stressed as ever.

"Hi, is Siri-" he started. "Oh dear sweet Merlin..."

"Nope. The name's Harry." Harry responded with a grin.

"I never thought Sirius would pull this off! Harry it is so great to see you, I haven't seen you since you were a baby!" Remus went on in that vein for a few minutes, talking so fast Harry couldn't get a word in edgewise.

Harry finally got Remus to come inside.

"Harry? Where's Sirius?" Remus asked. It was only then that he noticed the massive cloud of steam coming from the kitchen. "Harry... please tell me he's not cooking..."

"I could... but I'd be lying." Harry replied cheekily.

Remus shuddered. "At least tell me he's making Spaghetti... he has to be... He wouldn't put his Godson's life in danger on the very first day would he?"

Harry felt it was best not to mention the trip into Burr Road.

"He is." Harry answered.

"Thank goodness. There was this one time he tried to make pancakes-" Remus started.

"HEY! I thought we agreed never to speak of that incident again." Sirius said angrily. His chef's hat was tilted at a 45 degree angle and he was wielding his ladle menacingly.

"Fine, fine..." Remus said, backing down. But he was smirking.

Sirius went back into the kitchen to stir the sauce.

"See, he messed up the batter-" Remus started.

Sirius began to yell. Something about roasting Remus over a silver spit.

"And it ate through the-"

"CUT IT OUT MOONY!" Sirius screeched.

"AND THEN IT CORRODED THE-" Remus yelled louder to be heard over Sirius.

SMACK! The ladle came down hard on Remus's head and Sirius was smirking.

"And his eyebrows would never be the same." Remus finished lamely while massaging the new lump on his head.

The dinner went on in relative chaos, with amusing stories from their times at Hogwarts and some of the pranks they pulled. Harry laughed almost the entire time. He was almost afraid to eat for fear of snorting a noodle out his nose.

In the end, Harry managed to down two plates. Turns out, Sirius wasn't bluffing about his spaghetti. It was amazing.

After dinner, Sirius had them take a Portkey to a local public Quidditch field. It wasn't in use. Sirius explained the rules of Quidditch to him as they walked. Sirius taught him the secrets to flight that he knew, and Harry pretended he didn't already know.

Then, Sirius passed Harry his Thunderbolt. Sirius got on his broom as well so he could help out with in-air problems and Remus stayed on the ground, wand drawn, for in case the air problems got...well...Serious.

Harry hopped onto his Thunderbolt, and proceeded to fly through the air at breakneck speeds, and pulling dozens of tricks. At least, all the tricks he could think of. He was showing off for his new family.

After a few hours of flight, it started to get dark. The three of them returned to the house. Sirius then unveiled a surprise for Remus.

"Remus, I want you to live with us. Harry needs more than me as an influence." Sirus pleaded.

"That, I agree with Sirius, but I can't. If I bit Harry, you know I could never forgive myself if I hurt Harry. I'm too dangerous."

"Not anymore!" Sirius exclaimed. He showed Remus a piece of paper, showing that Sirius black was now a certified producer of the Wolfsbane potion. Remus looked on in shock, but Sirius just said "There's more."

Sirius lead Remus up the stairs and showed him the door to a room and held open the door for Remus to enter.

"Padded walls, ceiling and floor with a reinforced steel wall behind it, The fabric is self-repairing so the padding will always be fixed even after difficult transformations... You no longer have an excuse, Remus. Stay with us." Sirius pleaded.

"I...Allright." Remus gave in


	10. Chapter 9

A/n: Lionheart, I was wondering if you'd be willing to have an AIM conference, or failing that, discussing my story by email. You seem to be quite well informed, and it would be very useful to me if I could pick your brain for information and ideas.

I hope to make this one over the 3000 mark as well. Happy reading!

P.S. If you are not logged in, or are not a registered person, I can't respond to your review. So, if you insist on being an anonymous reviewer, just remember that I'm not ignoring your comments, I just can't respond unless you give me your email or something. Cheers!

Too Much Time On My Hands

Chapter Nine

Remus did follow up on his promise and moved in over the next few days. He did, however insist that he keep his job. Remus apparently worked at a Muggle lumberyard and got a good bit of pay from it. Sirius agreed on the condition that Remus would not attempt to pay rent of any sort and would not "chip in" for food, drinks or any other expenses the house and those living inside it may have. Remus tried to weasel out of that clause, but Sirius held his ground and finally, he agreed.

The only result of this was Remus was out of the house for most of the day during the week, but was still there on the nights and weekends. Remus sold his Muggle apartment and brought all of his possessions to his new home, and moved in to one of the many vacant upstairs bedrooms.

And so, while Remus was at work, that left Harry and Sirius alone for awhile. And Sirius had plenty of plans. Sirius spent a lot of time educating Harry on everything he knew of the magical world. They set up cauldrons and brought all of their potions ingredients into the basement. Sirius proceeded to tutor Harry in one of the few subjects he was skilled in: Potions. Harry "took to it" fast, although he actually was just remembering things he already knew. Some of the things he got from the margins of Snape's potions book helped a lot.

In addition to that, Sirius did keep his promise and teach him to cast magic with his new and illegal wand. Harry had to promise to keep it secret from Remus, however.

The story they told Remus was that they were learning Herbology, Magical History, Potions, how to cook properly, Quidditch and basic magical theory. While all of those things were completely true, it was not, in fact the whole truth. Harry was moving along nicely and had the basic spells that every wizard needed to learn down pat. Of course, Harry barely put a quarter of his magic into the spells he cast, it was still quite impressive what he could do. Sirius usually said "Down boy!" or "Easy, Harry." about four times a lesson.

The cooking, however was coming along best. Harry knew a few more dishes than Sirius, but none were nearly as good as the Spaghetti that Sirius made.

They learned by way of trial and error... and the fact that between Harry's well invested inheritance, Sirius's well invested inheritance and the money Sirius received as damages from the Ministry they could afford to buy more food if they screwed up badly enough to make something inedible.

They learned that it was like Potions. You had to add things at specific times, with specific temperatures and in a specific order, otherwise it was completely ruined... unless you were so skilled that you knew all the counters to the mistake you made and could fix it by acting quickly, but that was something only true masters should attempt.

Remus's birthday came in mid June, so Harry and Sirius tried to bake their first cake ever. While the cake had the consistency and texture of cottage cheese it was still quite delicious and they ate it anyway. They never figured out what mistake they made, but Harry assumed it had something to do with the amount of flour (Sirius denied this, as he'd been pouring the flour and claimed Harry added too many eggs).

Even with this reckless usage of ingredients, they found out they were spending a good bit less money than if they'd ordered take-out. As a result, Sirius and Harry tried to cook every single meal at the house. By the end of the week, 2/3 of the meals they cooked were edible, so on average they cooked four meals a day so they could safely scrap the botched meal. They took turns suggesting new recipes they'd discovered or just assorted combinations of foods that just sounded like they'd taste good together. Those suggestions were usually where the botched meals came from, but there were a few rare exceptions where they had stumbled onto something that was staggeringly brilliant. Potatoes and peanuts sounded disgusting to everyone except Sirius, yet they were pleasantly surprised when he made a delicious tomato based curry sauce and mixed it together with mashed potatoes and regular salted peanuts. Harry had a similar discovery involving ginger, garlic, tabasco and the preparation of hamburgers before grilling them.

Harry and Sirius worked together on the gifts, just like they had on the cake and got Remus a new pair of shoes, some new socks, two new pairs of pants and new shirts and a gift certificate to a Muggle Clothing store and a second one to a local Wizarding Clothing store. They also picked him up a few interesting books as they couldn't just get clothing.

Hermione, Luna and Ginny were increasingly busy whenever he tried to speak to them and rarely had time to speak to him due to some sort of research, so he spent most of his time with Sirius or reading his newly bought books. Sirius always had some new trick to teach (from either his brief stint as an Auror or from his years as a Marauder) and would always share them accompanied with an amusing story from the past. Usually he'd tell the story first, and then explain how he'd gotten the prank or whatever to work.

After two more weeks, Sirius began to get increasingly nervous about something. Harry confronted him about it quickly.

"What's up Sirius? You're ringing your hands and you didn't contest my unsupervised cooking of lunch with a 'better' idea of what to cook."

"I... Albus said one of the conditions of adopting you was for me to perform a certain blood ritual that makes us of the same blood." Sirius replied, shuffling his feet nervously.

"I wasn't aware that Albus Dumbledore had any say in either of our affairs." Harry snapped coldly. While Harry respected Albus as a powerful wizard and loved him like a grandfather, he had little patience for his manipulations.

Sirius understood Harry's concerns, and responded the only way he could. "I gave him my word... and he helped get me my freedom. I'm not sure who the anonymous tip-off came from, but I'd like to thank him or her personally one day."

Now Harry understood. "I'll do whatever needs to be done. I don't mind giving up blood or if it hurts... just as long as you don't die."

Sirius was thoroughly touched, and firecalled Albus for detailed instructions on how the ritual was performed.

That night at midnight, Harry, Remus and Sirius gathered under the stars in the backyard to perform it. Remus was only there to help if something went wrong. He wasn't required to be there or anything. As if in a trance, Harry and Sirius chanted, their voices almost indistinguishable from eachother's.

"_Blood of Father  
Blood of Mother_

_Blood that binds_

_One to the other_

_Bend and change_

_Twist and twine_

_What is mine is yours_

_And yours is mine_"

Sirius and Harry chanted as one. They slowly circled around a small stone pool on a pedestal. The pool was actually a birdbath, and it was filled with a potion that Dumbledore had provided. Both Harry and Sirius were carrying a knife. They faced each other across the faintly glowing pool and stepped simultaneously. They repeated the chant three times before it was Harry's turn to speak alone.

"_Blood of mine_

_I give to you_

_Loyalty and honor_

_Respect when it's due_

_My blood is forfeit_

_As is my name_

_Once we were different_

_Now, the same"_ When Harry finished saying the last word, he sliced a diagonal cut across his hand, from the base of his index finger to the far corner of his palm and placed it in the glowing potion, watching the blood billow out from is cut and disperse in the potion like tiny red clouds. Sirius was speaking before Harry's hand was completely cut.

"_Blood, respect, honor_

_Loyalty too_

_What you gave to me,_

_I return to you." _Sirius cut his hand here and plunged it into the potion. Harry and Sirius's bleeding hands clasped in the glowing birdbath. They spoke together once more.

"_Blood is family_

_What's done is done_

_Once there were two_

_Now there is one!_"

A crack of thunder boomed across the cloudless sky at the last word of the ritual. The bloody potion swirled in an inverted whirlpool... that is to say the potion defied gravity and the point of the whirlpool was above the surface of the rest of the swirling potion.

The tail end of the whirlpool stretched out further from the potion, like an earthworm emerging from the ground and stretched into words. _"Sirius Orion Potter."_ it spelled. With a second deafening thunderclap, Harry and Sirius were blown away from eachother. The birdbath exploded into dust sized fragments. The knives landed in the open hands of Sirius and Harry. Now, engraved on the handle of Sirius's knife was "Sirius Orion Potter" while Harry's still said "Harry James Potter." The knives vanished in a flash of red smoke and all evidence of the ritual, save a small well-healed diagonal scar on both participants hands remained.

Sirius was now a Potter.

Remus levitated the unconscious forms of Harry and Sirius into their own beds and then went to bed himself. Dumbledore would be there early to help set up wards and he would need his rest.

Dumbledore assembled his blood wards and was perfectly content not to hear from either of the three of them once he was finished.

Harry and Sirius continued their usual schedules as if nothing had happened. Meals were botched, potions were brewed, herbs were studied, books were read, spells were cast and jokes were told.

Harry also learned a great deal of interesting things from Townofaah as well. His Coatl companion had a way of explaining some of the concepts that were too complex for even Harry to grasp from both Muggle and magical books in a way that Harry understood them perfectly. Townofaah had picked up a few personality traits from other members of the house by spending lots of time with them. In particular, he picked up Sirius's sense of mischief. Now, the Coatl spent large amounts of his time attempting to goad Harry into learning and attempting the Animagus transformation.

Harry ignored the temptation and delved into other more obscure areas of magical study that most people hadn't touched in centuries. Evocation and Abjuration were both favorites of his, and Harry had a running ad in the Daily prophet offering to buy books on the subjects. Evocation, Harry learned was the art of makings things do what he wanted... including appear spontaneously. It was about as close to "elemental magic" that you could find outside of magical creatures. Harry found that the portable bluebell flames that Hermione was so fond of were a slightly tweaked and evolved mix of Evocation and Conjuration. Harry particularly liked being to create snowballs out of midair. Sirius was still trying to figure out how to do it... and besides, nobody in the UK expected to be hit by snowballs in the middle of summer.

The relation between Evocation and Abjuration was like the relation between Herbology and potions. They benefit and accent each other, and have a lot of overlap, but hey are not the same field of magic.

Harry still kept up with his "Muggle studies" as he called it and went over his books from time to time.

Harry already knew that summer would be coming to an end shortly. Harry's Birthday was only a few days away and about a month after that, Harry would be headed to meet Hermione for the first time in this life. What if he screwed up? What if he offended her and drove her further away?

'That could have its benefits.' Harry reflected. 'But she'll still be a target. She's still a Muggleborn. It's best to keep her close. Not to mention,I could seriously tamper with that blind obedience of those in powerful positions that wielded authority... if not undermine it completely. She needs friends, and the earlier the better.'

The day before his birthday, he felt the most peculiar thing over his mind link that he'd ever felt... and he thought that it wasn't functioning properly or something. Hermione, Luna and Ginny were in the same place. Not like in the same room... but they were all taking up the same area of space. They were sharing atoms!

'What the-?' Harry thought, before looking in through their eyes. Harry found himself looking at... himself. All three girls were sharing the same body... and were looking at it in the mirror. His body.

"Hermione, you are so brilliant! I can't believe you managed this!" The synthisized Hermione/Ginny/Luna that looked and sounded like Harry squealed in Harry's voice. By watching, he suspected it was the Ginny aspect.

"Well, his worst fear is a superpowered Harry coming back, right?Let's make him realize that fear!" The Hermione aspect stated matter-of-factly.

The Luna aspect just laughed before adding "I believe we're being watched. Like what you see, Harry?"

It was only then that Harry realized what had just happened and his brain actually managed to compute it.

"I only sent my spirit into time. My body must have been left behind right?" Harry asked.

Ginny giggled, and Hermione confirmed his statement.

"Hermione preserved it and kept it alive, in case I needed to use it to return... and I imagine my empty magical core was left behind, as I had taken the magic with me that expanded the younger me's core to fit it all, in addition to what I already had!" Harry exclaimed. "You three merged your bodies in addition to your spirits to my old body... giving me your combined knowledge and the ability to turn into either of you, or even split off into up to three different sentient entities at the same time... Between the three of you and my old power... you have to be pretty tough... Maybe even as tough as Tom himself!"

Hermione took control of the hands and applauded him. "Very astute, Harry."

"You're turning into a bookworm yourself." Ginny added.

"Or, rather, three bookworms are turning into you!" Luna interjected, and everyone laughed.

Harry had to marvel at the brilliance of the idea. He imagined that it only worked because of the link they shared... if Neville and Ron had only still been alive. The six of them together in one being could be unstoppable. But that was no longer possible.

In that life, that is. Harry struggled to keep himself from grinning. He broadcast the idea to his friends, and they enjoyed it immensely, and encouraged Harry to hurry up and save that world so he could turn around and save the one they were in.

Harry leaned back and relaxed... maybe he wouldn't have to watch all his friends die one after the other after all. Even if they didn't quite have the strength to take Voldemort out, they could certainly run around and toss wrenches into his plans.

Harry went to bed late that night. The next morning, Harry woke up to find that he couldn't move. Harry opened his eyes, to find that he could barely see as well.

His room was literally _filled_ with presents. He couldn't see the ceiling, and he couldn't see the door. In fact, from floor to ceiling, almost the entire room was filled.

Harry had been pranked simply by the sheer volume of birthday presents he received.

He couldn't even make it to the bathroom until he unwrapped some and condensed them amongst smaller boxes.

All in all, Harry received a total of: 147 books, a broomstick maintenance kit, his own set of Quidditch balls, a cauldron, Gobstones, five packs of Exploding snap cards, a wizard's chess set, A Zonko's prank Sampler containing the supplies to perform over a hundred pranks as well as a pamphlet titled "how to not get caught", over fifty five pounds of Honeydukes candy, countless blankets, cloaks, scarves, sweaters, robes, pants, underwear and even pairs of socks. Some of these were hand knit. There was a small mountain of gift certificates, and various toys that he'd only even heard of from around the world. There was a pair of Traditional Asian Wizard's robes, (charmed to allow size modifications in case he was bigger or smaller than they'd guessed) and presents that he could trace from the far corners of the world. Russia, India, Brazil, America, Australia... you name it, it was probably there. They had sent Jewelery (usually charmed with something quite useful. There was everything that a guy could ever possibly wear, from pendants and necklaces to bracelets and rings.), hundreds of home-brewed potions (amongst these was a small vial that contained a small amount of Felix Felicius) home-baked cookies, magically preserved entire meals (all of which were still warm due to the impressive charmwork placed on the packaging) soups, cookies, cakes, candies, steaks, entire chickens, sandwiches and more.

And now, with the presents stacked neatly on his bed (a king size, and it was still occasionally dropping something or another off the side) and the boxes and wrapping paper lay shredded on the floor, Harry approached the last package. It was the size of a large refrigerator and wrapped in navy blue paper with little house elves dancing across it. It was too heavy for him to move without magic. Thankfully, some kind soul had provided a small step-ladder for the occasion. Harry opened the top of the box and was and saw that it was full of letters, all the way up to the top. On top was a magically enlarged letter from Sirius on top so he couldn't miss it.. Harry figured he was intended to read that one first.

_Harry_

_There was something that Albus placed on the wards at Privet Drive that kept all Owls that he didn't expressly allow out. It was intended to keep away things like this. When the wards on Privet Drive collapsed a few nights ago (as it was someplace you no longer called home) we received an owl from Gringotts that said Harry Potter had fifteen thousand, nine hundred and fifty-two packages waiting for him. _

_We arrived and read the first letter we found. Remus figured out what it was... apparently around roughly any holiday, you received thousands of packages from all around the world, from people wanting to find ways to thank you. Crazy, I know but we need to invite some people over for a feast soon. A lot of the packages sent were food, we only set up a sampler of the stuff in your room. The entire pantry is flooded with these packages in the pantry. At least I won't have to pack you lunches for school._

_These letters in the box are all the ones that Gringotts had for you. The box is magically enlarged on the inside and has well over 100,000 inside it._

_The majority of the presents were baby toys, which are in the basement if you wish to pick a few to keep or something. You can figure out what to do with them. Remus suggests orphanages and St. Mungoes. I agree with him on this._

_The two of us were up until 7am hauling around packages, so don't you dare wake us up. Play with your new stuff, read your books and letters and eat your new food. If I'm up any time before three, you will sorely regret it_

_-Sirius O. Potter_

A/n: There! 3,310 words, not including the Author's notes or the title. I hope it's liked. If I'm not clear enough as to why he got the Owls from random people around the globe, I'll put in a bit of a monologue at the beginning of the next Chapter. I hope to have Harry meet Hermione by the end of the next chapter, and I may punch it forward a few years the chapter after that. I hope to have him at Hogwarts on or before Chapter 12. I'd also like to point out that I have well over 30 fics that are WIPS, so complaining about a lack of updates annoys me a good bit. I update fics based on the level of enjoyment I get out of them, how many reviews they get and if I have material written for them in my mind. You don't me to make things up on the spot, it'll be terrible. Let me plan, and I'll try to update around classes and whenever I can. Cheers!

Neopyro


	11. Chapter 10

Author's Note: W00t! After much discussion with Lionheart, and many ideas from both parties, I have everything up until a few days after the Sorting planned out. That should end up somewhere around the End of Chapter thirteen(Assuming I don't get too many more ideas or end up finding a few holes in the plot... my plan might be opff and I might be trying to do too many things in one chapter. We'll see.). I'm hoping to keep doing these long chapters as I'm getting lots more reviews now. Thanks be to all of you, and especially Lionheart, as I've gotten so many great ideas out of him... However I am of course willing to use your ideas as well, so if you've got something really awesome up your sleeve, let me know.

Thanks also to all those who helped me figure out the time conundrum. Many brilliant explanations went straight over my head. :P I now realize that there are so many possible ways of writing time travel, and absolutely no actual proof of how it works or not I could be completely right or completely wrong, and re-stating my opinion every few chapters only takes up space. Enjoy my stories for what they are: fiction, and suspend your disbelief, if you can. If you can't bear it... at least flame me on some point that nobody else touched yet. Hearing the same jibes and points over and over, even after having acknowledged them gets pretty dull...

Cheers!

Neopyro

Too Much Time On My Hands

Chapter Ten

_Dear Harry,_

_I know you are just a baby now, but I find myself unable to stop writing anyway. My husband and son both died by the Dark Lord's hand. I feel that I need to thank you in the only way I can. I'm quite poor, but I hear that my Turkey and Barley soup is the best in the world. I have sent you a cauldron full, so that your new relatives can keep food on the table in your time of grief and sadness. My apologies for your loss and thank you for helping with mine._

_Helen McClaren_

_P.S. Should you ever find yourself in the Manchester area and in need of anything I could offer, I would be more than happy to oblige_

_Dear Harry Potter,_

_My name is Tobayama Onizuka. I lived in England for many years in my youth. In fact, I was raised there and lived with my mother and father in London. On the day of my fifteenth birthday, both of them were killed in one of The Dark Lord's attacks. I fled england to my birth land, never to return. The day the Dark Lord fell was a day of both joy and sadness for me. Joy because my parents had finally been avenged, and I could at last rest easily. Sadness because you had to lose your parents just as I had to do so. I know that no monetary amount could ever bring your loved ones back from the dead, but I hope what I can offer will ease your pain. I have charged Gringotts with crediting your private vault ten thousand Galleons. Don't feel guilty about spending it; I am a successful businessman and can afford it. It is your money to do with as you will. Let it bring you much joy and happiness._

_-Onizuka_

_CEO of Onizuka Potions Inc._

_To Harry Potter_

_I also lost my family at the hands of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. My mother, My father, Two of my sisters and my very own twin brother. I lost my wife, and our two month old son. Before you defeated him, my life was empty, and it felt as if it had no purpose. I contemplated suicide. I had no job, no money and my life was shutting down before my eyes. But then, then you were born, and just after your first birthday slew the very excuse of a man who ruined my life. And I thought 'If a baby can destroy the most evil man to walk the Earth, why should I complain about what I have lost?' I became strong for you. I got a job, paid off my debts and now am a fully certified Healer, working at St. Mungo's. Thank you, Harry, and may all of the presents I have sent you make you joyful once more._

_-Petr Ivanovich_

_Head Healer of the Poison Control Ward at St. Mungo's_

The letters went on. Harry managed to read and answer eleven of them before his hand cramped up. Harry knew that he couldn't possibly read and answer them all any time soon and certainly not before the end of the summer. Unless... Unless he used magic.

Harry crept around the house and raided every writing desk he could find, and gathered every quill, pen, pencil, ink bottle, piece of paper and parchment. He also woke Townofaah, as his increased brain capacity could be a serious help with a situation such as this one.

Between the two of them, and their wealth of knowledge, they created a solution. The Sentient Quill. Townofaah put Harry into a deep sleep, and used some complex Coatl magic to extract Harry's personality and duplicate it, imprinting the duplicate on a quill, and added a few levitation charms and a few orders. He repeated the process for each of the forty writing utensils Harry had gathered. They watched in amazement as pens and pencils read each letter over thoroughly and then replied exactly as Harry would have. When the letter was finished, the pen would levitate the letter onto Harry's desk and fold it into a properly addressed envelope. Pens, pencils and quills danced about the room, on parchment, making a veritable storm of letters.

Harry and Townofaah left the room with a Wizard's Chess set and played a few games at the Dining room table. Townofaah won five out of seven games but they still had loads of fun. After Harry was forced to declare Townofaah the "God of Wizard's Chess", he let Townofaah sleep wrapped about Harry's neck like a scarf. Townofaah's chin rested atop Harry's forehead, and the way his wings were positioned made it look like Harry had grown a massive set of Winged ears.

At some point, Harry wandered down into the basement to look at the sheer volume of baby toys in the room. Harry could only descend down to the sixth step. Avret that was a mass of multi colored crazy things. Self-rattling rattles, Magically animated stuffed unicorns, singing bonnets, and even self-changing diapers. Harry decided to take the most interesting stuffed animal he saw as a sort of...souvenir and have Sirius donate the rest to charity.

Harry reached down and plucked up a weird green and purple weird stuffed animal. It was the craziest thing he'd ever seen. It looked like a crossbreed between an anteater, a hippogriff, a piranha and a frog, with a big helix shaped wrinkled horn on the bridge of its scaled anteater nose.

"Is that a... Crumple-horned Snorkack?" Harry asked himself. Still, the odds of it being sent by Luna were fairly high... and if not Luna, he'd still like to meet the crazy witch or wizard who would send things like that to complete strangers. Harry and the stuffed Snorkack went back upstairs to wait for Sirius to wake up.

Turns out, Sirius awoke around four-thirty, and came downstairs to find a fully-organized pantry. Remus followed shortly after and Harry unpacked a turkey dinner and set it out on the table. Sirius vaguely mentioned that he'd gotten Harry a present, and handed him a folded up piece of parchment that was very familiar to Harry. "This is the Marauder's Map that I was telling you about. If you can figure out how to work it, it's yours to keep, until you pass it down to the next generation of pranksters. Consider it a puzzle of sorts."

Remus mentioned that there was a small stack of books on Evocation under his bed, which Harry was free to take as they were his now.

The meal was mostly eaten in silence, as it seemed like Remus and Sirius had both just risen from the dead.

Harry scampered up the stairs as soon as he'd finished eating to read over his new evocation books. By looking through obscure branches of magic for something powerful, Harry was secretly searching for "The Power the Dark Lord Knows Not"

-----------------------------------Two Months later------------------------

"Quick, Harry! A girl in a skirt has just insulted your honor as a Marauder! What is the best spell for you to incapacitate her and embarrass her so that you are the last one laughing?" Sirius quizzed.

"Levicorpus!" Harry responded instantly. "By causing her to dangle in the air, her skirt will fall down (or up as the case may be) and everyone will see her knickers. She might be shocked enough to drop her wand, or have it pinned at her side by using both hands to hold her skirt in a non-revealing way."

"Excellent! Five points to Harrydor!"

Harry cheered aloud. The day after Harry's Birthday, Sirius had arranged for a small army of owls to deliver all his correspondence, and had them return to deliver all the baby supplies to all the local orphanages, with a healthy amount also going to the St. Mungo's charity ward. Harry "decoded" the Marauder's map the first day, and since then, Sirius had started to instruct Harry in the art of both Magical and Muggle pranking.

Sirius was certain that Harry had all the second year material down, and decided that two years ahead was enough for a bookworm like him, and they would work on other stuff that was far more important.

Like pranks. Every day, they studied the art of pranking. Which things were funny, which things were reckless and where Harry should draw the line. ("It's all funny until a Slytherin gets hurt, Harry. Then it's hilarious!")

Sirius showed Harry all the basic spells that a prankster would need, as well as some of the more advanced ones.

Harry worked through his Evocation books, secretly practicing some of the more interesting spells when Sirius wasn't around. After he finished the books, However, Harry made sure to study his Muggle books again, in case he'd need something for school.

"So, you all ready for school tomorrow?" Sirius teased.

"Of course!" Harry responded. "Williams Academy has one of the Highest female to male ratios in mixed gender schools in England. 85 female, I believe." Sirius noticed the cheeky grin on his Godson's face, and wrapped him in a hug.

"James would be proud." he said. Sirius broke the embrace. "All right, time for bed Prongslet. School starts early."

Harry headed up the stairs to his room and went to sleep. Townofaah, slithered under his shirt and slept on Harry's warm stomach. Harry fell asleep rather quickly after that.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!

"REDUCTO!" Harry cast in that moment of panic right after being awoken by an alarm clock.

The appliance exploded in a shower of plastic, metal, sparks and smoke, and Harry walked off to take a shower, feeling a bit cranky as he did so.

After a shower and his other morning business, Harry attempted to comb his hair. It, of course had almost no effect, and it poofed back up to it's usual messed-up glory within seconds.

Harry pulled on his school uniform (Navy blue jacked and slacks, with a white button down shirt.) and strolled down into the kitchen.

He chugged down a warm container of turkey soup, and packed a few other warm things into a bag for his lunch. He strolled out the front door, and was greeted by darkness. The sky was still a dark navy blue, and it was freaking cold. Harry wrapped his arms tight around himself and hopped into the black van. Remus was in the driver's seat. Harry fastened his seatbelt, and felt the van jolt into hyperspace. Everything returned to normal, and they found themselves a few miles from Harry's school. As close as they could get while still someplace that nobody would see them. Harry thought that he might have seen a touch of pink in the sky near the horizon, but it was only wishful thinking.

"Five in the morning on a Friday... I think they're trying to kill us." Harry complained.

"It could be worse." Remus replied.

"Oh yeah? How?" Harry challenged.

"We could have to get here the Muggle way." Remus answered.

They were supposed to arrive at the school at 5am every day for the first week for orientation. The digital clock on the dash struck 4:45 just as Remus pulled up next to the front door. Harry groaned like a zombie, and waved goodbye to Remus. Harry oozed out of the van, and made his way towards the door. Inside, there was a cluster of students, fairly close in age to Harry. His current age, not his actual age. There weren't any 23 year old students to the best of his knowledge.

As Harry approached them, one helpful student let him know that he needed to go to the office, sign in and pick up his name tag. He pointed Harry in the right direction.

Harry entered the office and was greeted by a woman in an avocado-green dress/suit. "Hello, I'm Katherine Robinson, Guidance Counselor. Can I help you with something?" She had curly red hair that was slowly fading to gray and a face that had gotten wrinkly and then cosmetically changed so many times that it was beginning to look less like cosmetic surgery and more like taxidermy. Her smile was so wide and fake that it looked like it must hurt a lot to maintain. Her teeth were blindingly white and she wore too much make-up and perfume.

"I'm Harry Potter, I heard I was supposed to arrive at five this morning." Harry said politely. No use making fun of her and getting in trouble on the first day. "I'm a new student." he added helpfully.

Her mouth made a tiny "O" of surprise. "Ah, you're the one here on scholarship, yes?" The Guidance Counselor asked, returning to the torture-smile.

"Yes Ma'am." Harry responded.

"Room 211, last room down the hall to the left. It's on the right. Your teacher should be there in about twenty minutes." The counselor said in one breath, before handing him a folder.

"Thank you," Harry said, walking out of the office. He heard the telltale click of a lighter as she lit up a cigarette. Harry hoped that Sirius had a Pensieve so he could show him how awful this woman looked. If not, it still might be worth the effort of buying one... it was pretty funny.

Harry walked down the hall, and into his new classroom. Sure enough, Hermione was already there, as well as ten other students. Hermione was poring over a textbook, and scribbling notes frantically into a notebook. Most of the other class was openly snickering at her. A few were close to exploding with laughter. Harry took a seat in the front row, near the right half of the classroom. Right next to Hermione of course. He pulled a textbook out of his bag as well and started reading.

While he did manage to read some of the textbook, Harry couldn't help that his insides were jumping for joy. It had been so long since he'd seen any of his old friends, so now that he could see Hermione as clear as day, he felt like singing.

They both read from their textbooks, ignoring the laughter coming from behind them.

Their teacher entered the room a few minutes early, but it wasn't a big deal. Harry quickly stashed his textbook in his bag and watched as Hermione did the same.

"Hello everyone." the teacher introduced himself. "Hello class! My name is Mr. Lespet." he greeted.

The teacher was a wispy, slightly elderly sort of man with a soft voice and a bad combover. He was the original purpose for the phrase "You might want to put some rocks in your pockets or you might blow away." He had a tiny pointed nose, and blue eyes that were far too big for his head, and only magnified by his glasses. However, he also seemed to be a fairly strong willed man, who radiated an aura of kindness and intellect. Harry suspected that he just might end up liking the man.

Mr. Lespet did a few name games to introduce the students to each other and learn the names of the class. They had just finished the third one of these when the vice principal entered the room.

She went through a boring introduction, in which Harry found himself simply staring at the long gray hair growing out of the mole on her right cheek. And, with impeccable timing, the guidance counselor walked in just as she was getting the applause for the end of her speech, The Vice principal left and the Guidance counselor spoke for a bit. Harry found himself gagging from the lack of air... and too much perfume in his lungs. The Principal entered and gave them the riot act on what the rules were, etc. and soon they were alone with their teacher once more.

Harry felt his eyes rolling, and knew this was going to be a long day.

Harry hated when he was right. Once the teacher was sure he'd learned everyone's names, he began to pass out papers.

"I'm sorry I have to do this to you, kids but it's just how things are done the first day in my class. I am going to give you a quiz. For every subject I am to teach you, that is. It is so that I can evaluate where each of you is without you studying for them. This is ungraded, but it will tell me exactly where to start when I begin teaching on Monday. There will be another test like this on the last day of the school year.

"You will have four breaks. One now, One at nine, Lunch at Eleven-thirty, and Recess at two. You will leave here at four. The bathrooms are right across the hall, please be back in fifteen minutes."

The students sat there for a full three seconds, blinking. Hermione had a smirk a mile wide. It was a look that blatantly said "And they laughed at me for studying." Harry managed to catch her eye and grin with her, yet he still had a feeling of dread. The students behind her weren't jealous, or envious of her. They were angry. These kids liked to call themselves the best, and so when someone had the gall to show them up... to be better than they were, they would strike them down mercilessly. Harry hoped to God that Hermione had the sense not to brag.

The break ended much too quickly, and Harry returned to his desk, and the tests were passed out. The first test covered Mathematics. Easy stuff, getting progressively harder. It went all the way from basic addition to calculating the volume of a sphere. The test didn't show anything harder than that, as they must not have suspected that any student would know that much in first grade. Harry whizzed through it all, figuring that there was nothing to be lost by doing well on them.

The second test covered science. Mostly basic stuff, but the last few questions got into chemistry which he had studied extensively. He was certain he'd gotten all of these right as well.

The third test was a spectacular flop for Harry. He hadn't studied much Muggle History, and was only able to get one of the three questions correct. And it had been exceedingly hard to talk about World War two without mentioning Albus Dumbledore or Grindlewald.

The second break was short, and barely anyone moved from their seats. They just sat around, trying to remember whatever they'd learned.

The next tests covered vocabulary and English, which Harry did decently on. Probably better than someone his age was expected to be, but not great. They were all given a small personal questionnaire to take. Questions such as "Do you play an instrument? If so, which instrument? If not would you be interested to learn one? Which one?" "Do you speak any languages other than English? Which ones?" "Do you like to write stories?" and "are you a talented artist? Do you want to be a talented artist?" Harry answered that he was interested in learning an instrument but wasn't sure what he'd like to learn. He figured it had something to do with sending the Students to separate classes after Lunch.

The procession to lunch was almost silent. A few people had the energy to whisper, but not many. Harry collapsed into the first seat he came to and popped open his still hot lunch.

"Sit somewhere else, Geek!" Some girl snapped rudely.

"Yeah, nobody likes you." another girl added.

"Don't blame me because you're unprepared!"

"As if we care, Brainiac! It's first grade, now get out of here!"

"Sit by yourself!"

Somehow, Harry knew that this was Hermione being talked about. Harry turned around and saw Hermione, with watery eyes walking to a different table. It was, of course empty. Somehow, Harry knew that in his other life, a teacher had taken a seat next to her and cheered her up greatly. It had been the first building block in her altar for the worship of Authority figures. Harry knew it was time to intervene. He packed up his lunch and walked over.

"Is this seat taken?" Harry asked.

"No." Hermione responded sadly. She didn't even look up to see who had asked.

Harry took the seat next to her.

"Problems with the savages?" Harry asked.

"Excuse me?" Hermione asked, not understanding his statement.

"The peasants. The inarticulate trolls we have the misfortune of sharing a classroom with." Harry explained. Harry thought he saw the corners of Hermione's mouth twitch upwards ever-so-slightly. "Well don't mind them. They are insignificant specks compared to us. Their pathetic opinions and whiny little cliques do not matter. Let their jibes roll off of you like water on a duck, and ignore them. They can't do anything except call names. If they commit violence, they can get expelled. In short, they are harmless and can do nothing to you unless you let them."

Now, Hermione grinned. "Thanks." she said. "I'm Hermione Granger."

"I did play the name game, you know. But my name is Harry Potter." Harry replied cheekily.

"A pleasure to meet you." they said at the same time, causing them both to dissolve into gales of laughter. So what if he gave Hermione a Superiority Complex? It wouldn't really matter since she could always back it up.

'A Hermione who had confidence and the balls to back it up? Look out Hogwarts, your Queen approaches.' Harry thought.

Harry and Hermione both ended up in the same Music class after Lunch, and the Instructor let all the students who did not have an instrument or instrument preference draw instrument names from the hat. Harry drew the violin, while Hermione got the bass guitar. They would apparently be drafted into separate classes for the next three months and were expected to know the basics of their instrument at that time period, including how to read music and play a few simple songs. At the end of the school year, they would perform a concert. Apparently the entire school (or at least those interested in music would be divided up into five groups based upon skill level. There was additional instrument tutoring available for free for an hour after school for those who are interested.

Harry was ushered into the art, dance and performing arts rooms all before Recess. Harry managed to figure out that not all of these classes would be mandatory, but he would have to choose a few to specialize in and take them for the entirety of his stay there.

"So what are you going to pick?" Hermione asked him, matching his walking pace.

"Not sure yet. They're going to show us a few more after Recess, so who knows what I'll take." Harry answered.

"How do you know?" Hermione inquired.

"They asked questions about languages on the test, and we haven't even seen a language classroom yet. They will take us to a few more classrooms and have us fill out a form saying which ones of these optional classes we will take. I imagine a language is required, but they'll have us pick two or three more to fill up the schedule."

Hermione nodded, as this made sense. They stepped onto the playground together, just in time to see a tall blond their age (with a group of other tall, evil-looking girls behind her for support.) call Hermione a few names.

"Hey Brainiac! It seems you've got yourself a boyfriend! What'd you do, promise to do his homework?" The blond sneered.

Harry could tell that Hermione was going to walk away, and let them use her as a doormat. Harry decided to step in for her.

"Bugger off, Peasant! Don't you have some pigs you need to tend to? The stall might need cleaning, as I can smell them from here." Harry retorted, waving the smell away from his nose with one hand. Somehow the girls were quick enough to realize that he was calling the blond a farmer, and her "friends" pigs.

"Watch your back, Potter." she snapped, before tromping off.

"Thanks." Hermione said with a flush. "They still get to me."

"Hey, what are friends for?" Harry asked rhetorically.


	12. Chapter 11

Too Much Time On My Hands

Chapter Eleven

The first day of class ended with a brief tour of the Language labs, the athletics areas and a few other choice areas around the school. They handed out a form for Harry to fill out by the end of the weekend and return when they came to class. Harry was supposed to select a total of five classes from a list of subjects that Williams Academy offered. Things like Math, English and History were Mandatory, but he had a choice for his other subjects. Of the five classes he selected, at least one must be an art, at least one sport or athletic activity and at least one language. The other two could be anything of his choosing, and he got to select the language, sport and art from a list. One of them would be his primary choice of what he wanted to do, and he would have that class every day instead of once a day like the others.

Harry chose music as his primary, drawing and painting as his art, (The two had been rolled into one class since so many people took both together and the teacher was the same) and since Harry had always been a fast runner, he took track and field as his sport. He took Latin as his Language, and filled his last period with performing arts.

He compared schedules with Hermione, as he'd finished his before school finished. Sure enough, great minds thought alike and with the sports selections. Hermione's schedule was remarkably similar to his.

She took Latin as her language, sketching/painting as her art, and was also taking Music and performing arts. She hadn't picked a sport yet out of annoyance, but was leaning towards yoga, sense it looked to be the least strenuous. She hadn't decided which class to set as her primary yet either but said she'd pick something.

At some point, Hermione asked about the scar on his forehead. Harry winced when she did and replied "I got it when my parents died. It's not the most pleasant of stories..."

Hermione apologized profusely, and Harry replied "It's not that big of a deal. I've lived with it for a while now."

They waved their goodbyes and Harry walked to the front of the school to be picked up by Remus in the black van.

Harry closed his eyes briefly and reached into himself to pull out his inner five year old personality. He sat in the front seat, giving one last wave to Hermione as he did. He missed the knowing smirk on Remus's face.

"So, how was your first day at school?" Remus asked.

"Pretty good." Harry replied. "A little boring. It was just the intro and some tests so we didn't actually attempt to learn anything. Thankfully, ordinary school days start at eight instead of five like today."

"Sounds like you had fun... so who was she?" Remus pressed.

"What? Oh, that was Hermione. She's pretty smart, and the only other person in our class without some serious personality issues." Harry answered absentmindedly. He could tell Remus was only trying to get a reaction from him. He refused to give him the satisfaction.

"That bad, eh?" he inquired.

"Ohhh yeah. At least there's Hermione though. It's like reaching into a pile of Hippogriff crap and pulling out a diamond."

Remus snorted, and the van jumped into hyperspace, reappearing seconds later in their driveway. Harry climbed out of the van and walked up the driveway and opened the front door.

Like an old Calvin and Hobbes cartoon, Sirius (as Padfoot) came barreling out of the house and leaped into the air, knocking Harry into the grass and pinning him. Sirius gave Harry a big slimy lick across the cheek before running a few steps towards the house. He chased his tail in a circle a few times before turning back into his human form.

"Oh dear Merlin, it's good to have you back!" Sirius exclaimed.

"That bad eh?" Harry asked, getting to his feet. He wiped the lick off his face but still was grinning cheekily at his Godfather.

"You have NOOOO idea." Sirius said dramatically. "I actually had to do my laundry to keep from going mad from boredom!"

"That is bad!" Harry agreed. "Let's go fix that. Remus keeps telling me how terrible you are at Exploding Snap."

Sirius had a look of pure terror on his face. "NO!" he exclaimed. "Anything but that! Last time I played my hair caught fire and I had to go bald!"

"Well there is another option..."

"What's that?" Sirius asked eagerly.

"You could teach me how to become an Animagus."

Sirius was sure Harry's grin could be seen from space. "You truly are your father's son... If you tell anyone about this, especially Remus, I'll kill you myself. There is another condition...two actually." Sirius added

"What is it?"

"If I agree to do this highly illegal and dangerous thing, I will never have to hear those two Magic-forsaken words from your mouth ever again...And I get to pick your Marauder name after your form is found."

Harry's heart beat with excitement. _"I'm going to become an Animagus!"_ he thought.

Harry agreed to the terms, but still couldn't hide his grin.

"I was right, by the way." Harry added.

"About what?" Sirius inquired.

"There really are some cute girls there, but only one with a decent personality." Harry replied.

"And who is this wondrous girl that has stolen my Godson's heart so quickly?" Sirius asked with a smirk.

"Well she hasn't stolen my heart, but I'd bet you anything she's a Witch. Muggleborn, yes. But definitely a Witch. Her name's Hermione Granger."

Sirius teased Harry about it all weekend, but Harry didn't care. After the articles Rita Skeeter printed in his previous life, a light needling from Sirius was nothing.

That night they played a game of scrabble. Remus won by a landslide by getting "Betwixt" on a triple word score. He doubled Sirius's score and was fifty points ahead of Harry at the end of the game. Sirius vowed never to play the accursed game again and claimed that both of them cheated.

Remus called him a sore loser.

"Play me in checkers, and then say that Moony, old friend." Sirius challenged.

"Bring it on!" Remus replied with a grin. Sirius thought he saw a spark in the werewolf's eyes... it was nothing like that fire he used to have in there when Lily and James were still alive, but he could tell that the old Moony hadn't died... he'd just been buried. Sirius got a glint in his eyes as well. 'Well I'll just have to dig him up.' he thought.

Sirius trounced Remus in checkers three times in a row.

"Another game, Moony?" Sirius asked, looking smug.

"No!" Remus snapped, standing up abruptly. Unfortunately for the werewolf, he failed to notice that Harry had tied his shoelaces to the card table they were using. When he stood, Remus immediately fell backwards again, causing the table to fall on him, checkers and all. Harry and Sirius exchanged a high five. He untied his shoelaces with a wave of his wand and got to his feet.

"I think I'll head up early tonight." Remus said with a glare.

"Are you sure you're not just a _sore_ loser?" Sirius taunted.

"You're impossible!" Remus replied, storming up the stairs. In their laughter, they both missed the inferno raging behind Remus's amber eyes. Little did they know, they were in for the night of their lives.

Sirius trounced Harry twice in checkers, and Harry turned around and beat Sirius so badly in Wizard's chess, that he added it to the "Forbidden games list."

Three and a half hours had passed since Remus's staged temper tantrum when the two of them decided to call it a night. It also was more than enough time for Remus to plot and prepare his revenge.

Harry opened the door to his room in time to have an ice cold bucket of water dump on his head. It was closely followed by about fifty pounds of flour, and knocked Harry onto his back. Harry felt more stuff fall on top of the flour. It was wet. Harry cleared flour from his eyes to find that the next things to fall on him had been melted butter and some eggs.

A second bucket of water pored down, turning the flour/egg mixture into something thick and sticky... like glue.

Not glue. Dough. Harry felt a few heating charms strike the dough (Harry couldn't see as the recent barrage of water had blinded him once more) and Harry began to feel pleasantly warm. The dough softened around him... and then it hardened.

Harry was baked into a biscuit! The bread was thick, and held together well... to the point where Harry had to eat his arms free.

He hopped into the shower to the sound of Remus's laughter. Harry left the bathroom to find Sirius outside the door. At least, he thought it was Sirius. He had 6 inch thick body hair and his bed sheet was trying to strangle him like an anaconda.

Harry helped him with the sheet, and they heard laughter ringing through the house. Remus's laughter.

Sirius magicked away the biscuit mess and removed the hair from his body, silently vowing for revenge.

That night, Sirius filled Remus's toothpaste with glue and purple color dye, and swapped the contents of his shampoo with Hair remover. He injected his soap with red dye, and sat back, watching the magic happen for itself.

The next morning at breakfast, they saw a bright red, bald Remus with purple teeth and a toothbrush glued to the teeth.

"Gluth?" Remus asked.

"Truce." Sirius agreed.

Harry just sat back ans smiled, as he hadn't been a part of their agreement... and he still hadn't gotten his own variety of revenge on Remus.

Harry went back to school that Monday, and proceeded to enjoy his own education almost as much as he did at Hogwarts. The teachers were smart and talented, the classes were educational and fun, and he was becoming fast friends with Hermione.

It, of course went without saying that he would eventually get invited to spend the night over her house. Harry didn't know just how crazy the event would be.

Harry had met the Grangers several times after school, and Hermione had met both Remus and Sirius. She raised an eyebrow when she found out that both of his guardians were male but didn't say anything about it.

The invitation came on the Thursday of their first week of school. The two of them had just gotten out of Sketching and painting together when Hermione mentioned that she would like him to come over and spend the weekend at her house. He could talk to his guardians about it, and hopefully bring clothes and such things to school with him on Friday if it was all right. Then, the Grangers would drop him off at School with Hermione on Monday.

While Harry was reluctant to put off his Animagus training, he agreed, as he did enjoy spending time with Hermione.

He even talked to Future Hermione about it.

"_Oh wow, Harry!"_ she said. _"That's a big thing... did you know that I still haven't had a friend over my parents house, even to this day?"_

Harry passed a wave of pity across the link. Harry caught the hidden message behind the statement. Hermione hadn't had ANY friends before she got to Hogwarts.

And that was the end of that part of the conversation. Hermione talked energetically about the dozen Death Eaters they had captured or killed using Harry's body and how things were looking up for the first time since he left.

They talked for awhile, but with the ability to share thoughts and experiences almost instantly, there was almost nothing to tell. They knew each other too well.

And after the initial teasing, Harry arrived at school Friday morning with three outfits of clothes in his bag in addition to his toothbrush and all that other stuff After their last class of the day, Harry hopped into the back seat of the Granger's small silver 4-door sedan and rode off.

Mrs. Granger seemed to absolutely love Harry and everything to do with him. She was trying her absolute hardest to make Harry feel welcome amongst them. She (unlike his Godfather) saw Harry and Hermione's relationship for what it was: a friendship. Her line of reasoning seemed to be "Why shouldn't the two smartest students in the class become friends? It only makes sense!"

Hermione's father also seemed to like Harry a good bit and liked to put on an exaggerated British accent and call Harry things like "Jolly old chap" and referred to Harry by words such as "Fellow" or "Chum"

Both Grangers had the same brown, bushy hair that was found on Hermione's head (Though Mr. Granger's was much shorter and actually would have passed for curly hair until someone did a close investigation.) and both had that same operating-room ability to make small talk that made you suspect they were going to gas you and work on your teeth at any moment.

Harry and Hermione chatted happily about school and the improvements they were already making in their lessons and how they wished that Carlotta Quimby hag would just keel over and die...

The usual stuff. It seemed no time had passed when they were already pulling up to the Granger's typical white, suburban house. Two car garage, for bedrooms, two bathrooms and a nice basement that had been converted into a Library. While outwardly appearing very much like Privet drive, Harry found that this house was nothing like it on the inside. While the Dursleys were intolerant, mean and closed-minded, the Grangers were very open-minded and tolerant of all things, and possibly the nicest people he'd met outside of the Weasleys. They also realized that books had other uses than just adjusting the height of uneven sofas.

Harry and Hermione dropped their schoolbags in the living room and climbed the stairs up to Hermione's room. As a habit he picked up from Sirius, Harry ascended the stairs using all four limbs which caused Hermione to laugh. Hermione didn't laugh much in his home world. Something told him that just this week he'd known Hermione in this world, had already changed her somewhat. Harry hoped it was for the better.

When the door to Hermione's room was opened, his mind was assaulted by dolls. Dolls, dolls everywhere. She had a hammock hung over her bed that was filled with dolls, and she had another shelf next to her bed full of them.

"Wow... You like dolls." Harry said.

Hermione flushed. "I do." she managed. Aside from the blush, Harry caught on to her feeling awkward. She hadn't ever invited anyone in here before, and so she was afraid that Harry might not like her anymore... or something like that. Harry figured out the gist of it anyway and was already planning some way to make her not worried.

"What do you do with dolls?" Harry asked. "I've never had one, but I've wondered... do you make up life stories for them, and make them live through their lives or something.

Hermione turned redder... Harry hit the nail right on the head. "I used to do the same with some toy knights of mine. I think it's pretty much the same anyway."

Hermione relaxed visibly but she still seemed nervous about something. Harry found out rather quickly. "Harry, will you play dolls with me?"

Harry blinked. Twice. 'Well... could be worse.' Harry thought.

"Sure." Harry answered. Hermione grinned.

"But... are there ways to make changes to your dolls?" Harry asked.

"Changes?"

"Like... clothes, or changing their hair... Wait... do you have any art supplies in here?"

Hermione pointed to a relatively large green basket behind Harry. "Help yourself... just don't do anything permanent."

"Excellent!" Harry said with a grin. He grabbed a nearby doll off the shelf and proceeded to do some quick alterations. It was a male doll with short black hair, and a slightly large nose. Harry colored the line near the nose very slightly with a black colored pencil so it looked bigger. He lengthened the black hair with a small piece of silk and some tape to hold it in place... he also applied dome glue from the glue stick to make it look greasy. Harry admired the art, and then marched his modified doll over to the two dolls Hermione was laying with.

"I am Snivellus Crepe, your Chemistry professor!" Harry said in his best Snape voice.

Hermione giggled. "Good morning professor!" Hermione squeaked with one of her dolls. "Good morning!" the other doll agreed.

"YOU! What is your name?" Harry said in his Snape voice, having the doll point at the girl doll.

"Han-" Hermione started.

"DETENTION! Talking in class!" Harry interrupted. Hermione collapsed in a fit of giggles.

"B-b-but." Hermione tried

"Two detentions! Vulgarities in class." Harry said as Snape. "And you!" Harry pointed at the boy.

"Yes, Professor?" The boy said.

"DETENTION! You look like your father and I hate your father so you being in this class is an insult to me.

Hermione laughed , very loudly. Harry grabbed a doll from the shelf. A blond boy.

"Late are you? Oh well, you're my only friend's son. I'm sure you have an excuse."

Harry grabbed another doll and made it come in late as well.

"Late! DETENTION FOR A WEEK!" Crepe screeched.

"But!" Harry said.

"TWO WEEKS!" this came from Crepe.

Hermione had now dropped both dolls, and was holding her stomach in pain from laughing so hard. And all he'd done was do a re-enactment of what happens in a typical potions class... This gave him an idea. Harry introduced a few more characters to the game. There was the blind Headmaster "Bumblemore" who kept Crepe on staff because he thought the students were lying when they said they hated him, and the strict "Professor McGobble'EmAll" who was strict but fair, and despite approaching Headmaster Bumblemore on dozens of occasions, he still assured everyone that "Crepe has my absolute trust" and that "Crepe is just misunderstood. He's really a nice guy once you get to know him."

Harry was about to introduce the comically short "Professor Nitpick" when Hermione's Mother called up the stairs "Kids! Dinner!"

Harry and Hermione bounded down the stairs, laughing all the way.

Harry and Hermione scarfed down food and Hermione talked non-stop about the mean Professor Crepe and the blind Headmaster Bumblemore. Harry could hear Hermione the Older laughing her ass off over the mind link.

Just as Harry and Hermione finished off the last of their Dinners and were about to head back upstairs, Hermione's mother called out "Not so fast, kiddos. It's bath time."

Both kids groaned. "Rock, Paper Scissors to see who goes first." Harry said to Hermione.

"First?" Hermione's mother asked incredulously. "We have a double sized tub! Do you know how much water would be wasted in washing you one at a time? You're both young and don't take up much space. You'll barely notice the other one is there."

And unfortunately, there was no arguing with Hermione's mother. Harry could still hear the laughter of Future Hermione... and it just kept getting louder.

A/n: There! While not as long as last chapter, it's still a good piece over 3,000 words. Better than the old 2,000 I used to do, no? I have a small piece of bad news though. It's going to take me a good bit longer than expected to get Harry to Hogwarts though. Sorries! I'll try to update when I can!


	13. Chapter 12

A/n: Just a quick mention, Harry and Hermione are both six. Harry just had his sixth birthday at the end of July, and JKR said in an interview awhile back that Hermione was older than Harry and Ron, not younger. They are both in first grade. Harry went to Kindergarten back at Muggle primary school before Sirius adopted him, and neither of them ever went to pre-school. If I said Harry was five recently, this was a mistake, and I apologize.

Also, I'm going to try and start moving in a serious direction... soon. I'll try and keep some silliness around, but it want to return to that same style of writing found in the earlier chapters. Still... this one is for you guys and packed with the childish craziness of the last few chapters. This is just letting you know that it won't last.

Too Much Time On My Hands

Chapter Twelve

"MOOOOOOOOM!" Hermione complained.

"You don't need to. Really! I have something called the "Clean Gene" and it takes days for me to start to smell... Or, I could even pay for the water for me to bathe by myself or something. Besides, I like to shower instead of have baths!" Harry protested.

"Stop babbling, both of you and go get your clean clothes to change into. You can pass your dirties out to me once you get in the tub and I'll put them in the wash. Now go!" Mrs. Granger snapped.

"But-" Harry started.

"GO!"

"I jus-" Hermione tried.

"HERMIONE JANE GRANGER!" Mrs. Granger screeched. Even Harry jumped. Both children bolted up the stairs without a word. Harry was vaguely aware that the voices of Ginny and Luna laughing just as hard as Future Hermione was. Actually, Luna might have been laughing harder.

"What are the odds she has a key to your room?" Harry asked Hermione when they reached Hermione's room.

"Very low... the problem is, the door doesn't lock." Hermione answered.

"Well what about your chair? We could prop it against the door handle." Harry suggested.

"The door opens outwards. It'd just fall over when she opened the door."

The two sighed in despair. They were both geniuses but neither of them could think of a way out of the situation. They exchanged a look that blatantly said "As long as you're just as traumatized by this as I am, we can manage. Let's just never speak of this again." They rummaged for clothing and headed back out of the room, their heads drooping like defeated soldiers. They entered the bathroom, where the water was already turned on, and filling up the tub. The two sort of stood there in awkward silence for a moment.

Mrs. Granger walked in carrying a laundry basket full of dirty clothes. "I'm doing Laundry now and there's still space in the machine. Stop being so awkward and give me your clothes."

Harry and Hermione exchanged another horrified look.

"All right, I'll go put these in the machine, but your clothes had better be waiting for me in a pile in the hall by the time I get back." Mrs. Granger acquiesced

The door shut behind her, and Harry and Hermione shared another look. Harry shrugged, and got the ball rolling by removing his socks. Hermione still kept that look of terror on her face. Harry removed his shirt. That was pretty much the limit of his clothing comfort zone.

Hermione slowly removed a sock. She removed the second one. Harry removed his pants, thankful that his boxers weren't the magic ones with flying brooms and Snitches that he'd gotten the other day. He knew he'd have a hard time explaining why they were moving to Hermione's parents. And Hermione for that matter,

'It's just like wearing a swimsuit...' Harry tried to convince himself. The laughter in his head returned as apparently Luna, Ginny and Future Hermione heard his thought and started cackling again.

Mrs. Granger started to ascend the steps. Harry's fear of being naked in front of a girl at age six battled with inciting the wrath of Hermione's mother.

'Better the evil you know than the evil you don't.' Harry thought and let his boxers drop. He tossed them onto the pile. In the future, Luna had just taken a large sip of pumpkin juice and sprayed it all out her nose. This boosted his confidence and he headed for the tub.

Now it was Hermione's mother's turn to be terrified. 'Hung like that as a six year old?' she thought. 'It doesn't matter what that kid looks like when he gets older, he'll have to keep the women away with a stick! Maybe a bat or gun.'

Hermione tossed her underwear onto the pile and climbed into the tub across from Harry.

"Don't forget to wash each other's backs!" Mrs. Granger called as she walked downstairs.

If there was a desk present, Harry would have intentionally banged his head onto it. Dobby style. There was not, and he had to make do with enduring Hermione's awkward stare. She wasn't really looking at him. More accurately, she wasn't looking at all of him. Harry dunked himself under the warm water to purge the awkwardness from the air. He surfaced, rubbing the water from his eyes.

"Pass the shampoo please?" Harry asked, extending a hand for the bottle, without opening his eyes yet. This seemed to bring Hermione back to earth and she passed the bottle.

Harry opened the top and squirted a bit into his hand, his eyes still shut. He fumbled around blind for a second, but finally got the shampoo bottle to shut ahd he let the bottle just float in the warm water.

"Here." Hermione offered, and scooped the shampoo from Harry's hand. "Turn around, I'll do it."

"Thanks." Harry said awkwardly. He was used to showering with his glasses on and a waterproofing charm on them. He turned.

Harry felt Hermione's hands running through his hair, massaging the shampoo into place. Harry did his best to ignore the weirdness and the whole "This is so totally wrong" feeling that he got, as Hermione washed his hair for him. He tried to imagine that it was just like the lady who washed your hair before you got it cut. The image helped, but it still felt weird. Harry heard a faint "sploosh" as Hermione presumably rinsed the shampoo off her hands. Harry started to turn away.

"We've got to wash our backs. Mom says, remember?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, yeah." Harry replied. Harry heard rummaging sounds as Hermione got soap. She seemed to be getting much more confident about this whole thing, and was treating Harry like he was just another doll she needed to take care of. That was fine. Just as long as she wasn't looking at his bits with that look of insatiable curiosity all over her face.

Hermione's hands returned, this time with soap instead of shampoo. She cleaned exceptionally slowly. Harry wondered if this was why women took so long to get ready for a dance: they spent an hour in the shower making sure that there wasn't a speck of dirt left. It seemed like a geologic age had passed before Hermione said "OK, dunk yourself, and then it's my turn."

Harry dunked himself and resisted the urge to groan. Now it was time to start all over again.

Somehow, they managed to leave the bathtub before the water was cold. Harry & Hermione hopped into sleep clothes and the two of them bounded up the stairs to Hermione's room. They managed another forty-five minutes of dolls. Harry introduced "Noskill Pastrami" the deluded astronomer who thought she could tell the future.

Snivellus Crepe walked into the room. "This boy made a funny face in my class! He should be expelled sir!" he said to Headmaster Bumblemore.

"It doesn't matter what you do, Headmaster." Noskill Pastrami said. "The boy will DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! He will be betrayed and murdered in cold blood by one that he used to call a friend!"

"That's enough, Noskill. Snivellus seems to have something else he wants to say to us." said the Headmaster.

"It's true, Headmaster. I used to work for a murderer. I killed lots of people to help him out and convince him that I was his friend but really I'm your friend and want to help put him in jail." Snivellus said dramatically.

"The fates say this man is lying!" Noskill said.

"Silence!" Bumblemore ordered. "I believe you, Snivellus. You are a good person and would never hurt me." Bumblemore approached Snivellus for a hug.

Snivellus let him approach... and then kicked him in the head and beat him up. "HA HA! You old fool, I really was working for the Murderer Moldy-Shorts. Now you are dead because you were stupid and trusted me! HAHAHAHA!" Snivellus cheered, dancing on Bumblemore's corpse.

"Kids! Time for bed!" Mrs. Granger called.

"Awwww!" Hermione whined.

"Come on, don't give me a hard time about this. I've got a mattress, sheets, blanket and a pillow for Harry.

Harry and Hermione cleaned up the dolls to make room for the incoming mattress.

Hermione's mother made the bed for him, and set it on the floor next to Hermione's bed. She made sure both Harry and Hermione were in their respective beds and comfortable.

"Nighty night." she said, turning the light off. "Sleep tight!" She added, closing the door. She re-opened it a crack and whispered in a scary voice. "Don't let the bedbugs bite." Hermione let out a tiny "meep" of fear.

"Harry?" she asked, once the hall light was out. "There's no such thing as bedbugs...right?"

Harry once again wished for a desk for head-bashing purposes.

"No, Hermione." Harry said as if it was a stupid thing to ask. "Bedbugs are only found in South America, Some parts of Central America, most of the Caribbean islands and a small area of Southern Asia. Certainly no further North than Shanghai."

"Oh. OK Harry." Hermione replied. It seemed that as long as Harry said there was nothing to fear, there wasn't.

Harry awoke the next morning feeling a good bit warmer than he should have. It took him about seven seconds to realize that Hermione must have gotten lonely or something in the middle of the night, for she had decided to share his bed with him. Harry scooted out from under her arm and headed to the bathroom.

By the time he'd returned, Hermione was awake.

"Morning, Harry." Hermione said as she rubbed her eyes.

"Morning, Hermione." Harry replied. Harry sat at the other end of the mattress, facing Hermione.

"Shall we grab the dolls after breakfast?" Hermione asked.

"Nah, actually I've got a better idea. Why don't we see if we can talk your parents into taking us to the Library?" Harry suggested with a grin. Hermione's grin mirrored his own. She rubbed her hands together like you would expect of some sort of evil genius.

"Excellent idea." She replied.

Harry did a sort of mental shrug. 'So what if she's a little clingy. She has her priorities straight... and I can guide her to make sure she doesn't become a complete hermit like last life. She just doesn't know how to have friends yet. She's only parroting other things she's seen, but once she learns for herself, she should be great.' Harry thought.'Of course, I could always be dead wrong and she could develop some monster crush that makes Ginny's look like hatred by comparison. Meh... best not to think about it.'

Harry and Hermione went downstairs, still in their sleep clothes to have breakfast. Hermione gave Harry the choice between two store-brand sugar-free cereals. Harry picked the one with raisins. Hermione got two bowls, peeled a banana and sliced it with a butter knife, as regular knives are not needed for such a task and poured half of the milk, cereal and the banana slices into each bowl.

Harry managed to find the spoon drawer and got them a spoon apiece, and viola, breakfast was served. They ate relatively quietly, and the silence was usually only broken by some of Harry's antics causing Hermione to laugh. Things like hanging his spoon from his nose, and eating with the handle of the spoon. Still, breakfast finished without any messes, and it was only thirty minutes later (after cleaning up) that they discovered that Hermione's parents weren't even home. There was a note left on the front door saying they would be back around two or so, and that she had made them some sandwiches for lunch and they were in the oven.

"So much for the Library." Harry muttered. "So what should we do now?"

"Well, there's this game some of the other girls play...but...well..." She mumbled a bit at the end but Harry caught the gist of it which was they didn't want her to play.

"Well, what's it called?" Harry asked. "We could probably manage to figure out most of the rules if you at least know the basics."

"Well..." Hermione started. "They called it 'House.'"

'Oh dear sweet Merlin... have mercy upon me.' Harry thought.

Harry tried to keep himself from drooping. "How do you play?"

-----------------------Elsewhere---------------------------------

Corpses were everywhere, and the grass was stained red with blood that appeared silver in the light of the full moon that lit up the entire night sky. Death Eaters and Inferi mostly made up the corpses, but there was the occasional vampire, werewolf, Auror and Order member corpse interspersed between them but at a much lower ratio.

The battlefield was clear except two figures, standing opposite each other in the moonlight. They stood in silence for a long time, contemplating each other. They weren't quite ready for the banter that would always come before the combat.

Harry Potter's wand was dripping blood off the tip. Minutes ago, an Inferius had attempted to remove his left arm while he was dueling with Dolohov, the last Death eater on the battlefield. With Dolohov nursing a dislocated shoulder, Harry had been free to defend himself for the time being, but before he could muster the energy for a cutting curse, the Inferius attempted to bite him, bringing it's head into the path of Harry's wand. Wand and Inferius eyeball met in mid-air and the wand proved to be made of tougher stuff than the eye. Harry dispatched Dolohov, and then stood there panting... which brings us back to where we are now.

Harry Potter and Voldemort, staring each other down on a corpse covered field in the autumn moonlight.

"You have improved Potter. I am impressed." Voldemort said, opening the floor to banter.

"Save it, Tom. You'll be joining your Muggle father soon enough." Harry shot back.

"Foolish boy!" Voldemort snapped. "Don't you know that I am Immortal?"

"Oh, right." Harry sneered. "I almost forgot." With only half a thought, Harry flicked his wand backwards and fired off a wordless Reductor curse, shattering the skull of Voldemort's precious serpent familiar: Nagini.

"I got the rest of your set already." Harry spat. "Diary, Ring, Locket, Chalice, Dagger, and now the last one. Your filthy little snake. You are perfectly mortal now, Tom. Even if I fail here tonight, anyone could be free to kill you now. You don't have enough of a soul left to make more Horcruxes. Anything less than what you currently have would cause your body to lose all motor functions."

"Don't lecture me, Potter! We duel, now! Save your chatter for when you get to meet your filthy Mudblood of a mother in just a few minutes._ Avada Kedavra!" _Voldemort growled in rage.

Harry sidestepped the curse. "You talk pretty tough for a half-blood. But your precious dark arts won't save you now. You're pathetic! _Reducto!_"

The first two customary spells had been exchanged. Now it was time for the duel to truly begin.

"_Ritcunsempra! Incendio! Stupefy! Expelliarmus!"_ Harry shouted, launching a wave of spells at the Dark Lord, hoping to score a lucky hit.

Voldemort avoided all four spells and countered with a volley of his own. "_Sectumsempra! Avada Kedavra! Crucio!"_

Harry muttered a spell under his breath and launched up in the air twenty feet... and stayed there. Harry Potter was flying.

It was only once he gained some altitude that he realized what an advantage Voldemort was at now. It was so much easier to hit things in the air than those that were on the ground. He only managed to get the first two spells in his assault off before Voldemort was firing back with spells of his own. _"Sectumsempra! Petrificus Totalus!"_

"_Avada Kedavra! Crucio! Imperio! Finite Incantartem" _

Harry knew he couldn't avoid all four spells at once... but he could take one and avoid the others. And What could a simple Finite Incantartem do? Harry let the final spell hit him, and then he remembered, just as his flight spell was dispelled and he plummeted thirty feet to the ground. Harry heard his right leg snap as he hit the ground. He barely noticed that Voldemort was short a couple of fingers on his left hand. He'd gotten lucky with the Sectumsempra.

Harry took advantage of Voldemort's distraction to fire a few more curses at him. The Dark Lord batted the curses away as if they were mere flies.

"Now it is time for you to die, Harry Potter. _Avada Kedavra!_" Voldemort shouted.

With a broken leg, Harry couldn't dodge the spell. He did the only thing he could, and activated the Portkey on his belt, whisking him away to safety.

He fell painfully onto the bed of Hermione Granger.

"Fuck." all three girls said at the same time. So close, yet so far. The girls separated from Harry's body. Ginny stayed behind to mend Harry's leg, and the other two went off to the kitchens. They would need food for the long night of studying that awaited them. They needed to analyze six hours of Pensieve data to figure out just what they did wrong. Odds are they would be up all night again.

-----------------Back with Harry---------------------

"Are the clothes really necessary?" Harry asked, in a dress that was about twenty sizes too big for him... and that was before you counted height.

"Well how else could you be my daughter without a dress?" Hermione asked rhetorically. Harry had already made his way through the roles of the family and had been everything from the grandfather to the family dog in the last five hours... and they still had one more to go before Hermione's parents were due back.

"I'm sorry mother." Harry replied. Hermione beamed as she continued to cook (and of course, they were cooking real food. Hermione wasn't one to pretend things that could be reality without too much work.

"More eggs honey?" she asked.

"No thanks, mom." Harry replied. "I'm full."

"Well what do I do with all of these then?" Hermione asked. "We can't exactly let them go to waste can we?"

And then, Harry saw an opportunity. A chance to bring this game back to something close to familiar territory. "Make egg salad." Harry replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Hermione's brow furrowed. She was obviously imagining something involving fried lettuce leaves. "Here, I'll show you."

And Harry brilliantly swayed the fiendish house game into a chance to teach Hermione how to cook something new. Harry enjoyed cooking. It wasn't as good as when Sirius was there, but he was sure they could manage some semblance of fun.

And so, Harry wandered the kitchen in a pink floral dress about three times his size and blue high-heeled shoes. And they cooked.

A/n: Once again, over 3,000 words. Yay for me!


	14. Chapter 13

A/n: Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Things have been crazy. Sprained ankle, mid-terms, new girlfriend… you get the picture. I hope to update more often in the coming weeks. I'll go update-happy sometime in early-mid December as that's when class ends for me.

Also, I intend to move away from the fluff and Humor over the next few chapters. I had a few complaints about Hermione's mother last chapter. Just… if she bugs you ignore it OK? I realize she's not like normal people… but she's based off of people I know. I don't intend her actions to be abusive or perverted… I might come back and edit her parts later on, but turn a blind eye to it for now.

Also… bedbugs really exist? I thought they were just big mythical creatures made up by parents to keep their kids awake at night. ::shrug:: you learn something new every day. I maintain that Harry didn't know of the existence of bedbugs and was merely saying something to calm Hermione.

Warning: bad language near the end of the chapter. You've been warned

Too Much Time On My Hands  
Chapter Thirteen

Weeks went by faster than Harry's mind registered them, and before they knew it, Halloween was approaching.

Worse, despite his "Aura of Kindness" Mr. Lespet was dumping homework upon the students of Williams Academy like there was no tomorrow. Even with the extra life's worth of brain capacity to draw upon, Harry found himself bogged down enough to occasionally be forced to cancel the cooking and pranking training sessions with Sirius.

Harry shifted things about as best he could to make space in his schedule for everything he wanted (or needed to do). He was soon a master of time management. You know those people who are taking classes to get a degree, working a full time and still manage to attend every one of their kid's soccer games?

Harry was like that. The first three weeks left him so exhausted that he would sometimes skip dinner when he came home for that extra half-hour of sleep, but soon he got used to the rigorous schedule of Williams Academy, and found that he actually did have spare time in his schedule, he just needed to make it.

Despite track meets, violin practice, oodles of homework and spending time with Hermione, Remus and Sirius, Harry managed to continue his "Magical outreach" through regular correspondence with a few dozen choice witches and wizards that had mailed him to thank him for defeating Voldemort. (Harry also had an invitation to an Early Halloween party held the Saturday before Halloween Harry planned to attend as there were supposed to be a few dozen kids his age attending.) Harry had even made a few modifications to his magical pens so that they stored memories of previous letters they had written and could relay them instantly to Harry, should he meet any of them in person. It was like putting a miniature pensieve in a quick-quotes quill.

Townofaah had been immensely helpful as well. Harry had been experiencing a few painful headaches over the last few weeks that neither potions nor charms could fix. Desperate, Harry turned to Townofaah. As a Coatl, Townofaah knew some interesting Legillimens and Occulmens techniques (in addition to his awesome variety of psychic powers) and examined Harry's mind. The winged serpant tutted angrily at the state of Harry's mind. Apparently, Harry hadn't let his mind fully enter baby Harry's mind. Harry had used his Occulmency to keep his brain separate from his younger self's. Whgile this hardly mattered during Harry's infancy and toddler years, as there was plenty of space, it was becoming a nuisance now that he needed that brain space.

Townofaah helped Harry relax and remove the powerful Occulmency shields that he hadn't even known he was using. It was like Harry got a simultaneous brain and magic upgrade. All that magical energy that he hadn't even known he was using was now back and at his disposal. His brain melded with his younger self's and their magical powers pooled together. It was a breath of life that revitalized and energized him. Though Townofaah forced Harry to go through mental training excercises every day it was a small price compared to his "newly acquired" brain capacity and the added boost to his magic. That, more than anything had helped him acclimate to the rigors of private school life. The only side effect of the meld he'd noticed was that he's started acting a bit more like a normal six year old. Not enough to change him noticably, but enough to make Harry have to choose between catching frogs in a nearby pond and doing his homework like he was supposed to. Still, Harry's discipline kept himself in check, but he let himself loose when he really needed it.

As if he needed anything more on his schedule, Hermione approached him one day and mentioned that her parents were going to a Dentists convention on Halloween and Hermione wouldn't be able to go Trick-Or-Treating unless she went with Harry…at his house.

It hadn't even occurred to Harry that Hermione would ever want to see his house or need to visit. The fact that Harry lived in Ireland and traveled using a magical van that traveled faster than the SR-71 Blackbird 1 might raise a few suspicions with Hermione.

Harry managed to keep a straight face and mentioned he'd talk it over with Sirius.

After school, Harry barreled through the house shouting "CODE BLACK! CODE BLACK! SIRIUS, WE HAVE A CODE BLACK!"

Code black was something from the Marauder code that usually meant the prank victim has found out about the prank and is coming this way with a lot of teachers. In other words, the prank or the pranksters were in imminent danger of discovery.

Sirius took the last six steps in a single jump. "What's the word?" he asked.

"Hermione wants to come over to trick or treat." Harry replied.

"What's so bad about… Oh." Sirius said stupidly, figuring it out after he had started talking. As usual.

"So, what do we do?" Harry asked.

Sirius snorted. "The hell if I know."

"Some master prankster you are." Harry growled. Sirius's mouth formed an "O" of shock, as if he'd just been slapped.

"Then what do you plan to do about it then?" Sirius sneered.

"The only thing we can do." Harry replied.

"What's that?" Sirius asked.

"We have to tell her about Magic."

Sirius promptly fainted.

By the next morning, Sirius was convinced to the merits of telling Hermione about magic (as the only other option was to buy a second, magic-free house in London that they pretended to live in.) but it was agreed that they would only answer questions if Hermione asked them. Harry also confided his "suspicions" that Hermione was a Muggleborn witch.

Halloween came closer and closer, until it was just a week away... and it was the day of the magical Halloween Party he'd been invited to. Harry finished up his costume around noon (He was going as a vampire. He'd taken a half dozen potions and had twice that many charms on himself. His skin was cold and clammy, his eyes were red and he had long pointed fangs jutting out from his upper jaw.) and was fully ready to go to the party by three.

Harry, Sirius and Remus piled into the van and warped off to Healer Ivanovich's Party. ((A/n: See chapter 10 if you forgot about him))

Remus rapped lightly on the door with his scythe. (He was the grim reaper. Sirius had cast a few charms on himself so that his teeth dripped blood in grim form and he had a bit more ghostly of an appearance that allowed you to see through him.)

The door opened and a Russian man in black armor and a bloody pike greeted them at the door.

"Are we late?" Remus asked. His voice sounded like that of a dying Dementor. The hairs on the back of Harry's neck stood on end. Remus should have taught Charms.

"Of course not!" the man in black armor boomed in his thick Russian accent. "I was just making some Shish-kebabs. Come in. You are more than welcome to...stick around."

"Excellent..." Remus said, his voice making a faint rattling sound, not unlike boles clicking together.

"I am the Vampire Yrrah, better known as Count Potter. " A few handy charms had given Harry a hearty Transylvanian accent. "It is nice to meet you at last, Vladamir. Your reputation for having a sharp tongue and piercing comments proceed you. I would like you to meet my Uncle, Remus Lupin, though you may know him as Death. This is his Grim, Sirius Black."

The man in the Vlad the Impaler costume gave a hearty laugh. "Easy on the Vladamirs, Count Potter. You may refer to me by my birth name, Petr. The other Children are out back if you wish to join them."

Sirius, Remus and Harry stepped inside. Now that introductions of their costumes had been done, things got decidedly less formal sounding. Sirius popped back into his human form and plopped on the couch next to Remus. Harry perched on the armrest of the couch, despite being offered a chair.

"As you may have gathered, my name is Healer Petr Ivanovich. I'm head of the Poison Control Ward over at St. Mungo's. Harry and I have been passing letters back and forth for awhile."

"As we've heard. I believe he has re-told your baby basilisk bite story a dozen times." Sirius said with a smirk.

"Well, how was I supposed to know the bloody snake was still there? I had to brew up a quintuple batch of basilisk anti-venom before that nightmare was over!" Petr exclaimed. Harry snickered and even Remus had the beginnings of a smirk.

"I think I'm gonna go see the other kids out back." Harry said, smiling.

"Enjoy yourself!" Petr called back.

Harry wandered briefly through Petr's massive house before finally finding the door that led outside. There were a few adults, but most of them were situated around the punch bowl and laughing raucously to bad jokes told by a smarmy looking wizard with green robes and a rapier sticking clean through his neck. There were about a dozen children, most of which were his age, and apparently more would be arriving later.

The children were mostly unsupervised and were running about in a way that looked quite similar to a Muggle game he'd played back in his last life.

"Hey, you there!" One of the players called to him. He was tall for his age (which Harry estimated to be relatively close to his own) and was lightly tanned with a decent layer of muscle across his body. He looked vaguely familiar to Harry, but he couldn't place where."Know how to play Centaurs and Fairies?"

The boy was smiling at him and floating on a toy broomstick about three feet off the ground. There was another toy broom on the ground, and all of the children seemed to be trying to stay away from the boy on the toy broom. Another boy on a broom was floating near a shield charm that had a few broomless people inside it. Suddenly, a "fairy" broke free of the crowd and ran up, tagging the shield. It vanished for a few seconds, and the children inside it ran out of it. A few of them were re-captured by the "centaur" nearest the jail and stuffed back inside the shield.

"Yeah, I know." Harry said. He gave the boy a cheerful smile and picked up the discarded toy broomstick. "I'll be a centaur then?"

"Can you fly?" The dark haired boy asked.

"You'll see." Harry replied with a wink.

Over the next five minutes, the game had to be restarted twice due to the entire fairy team getting caught. The other boy had obviously flown on a real broom before and knew his stuff. Although he was a skilled flier, and knew the capabilities of the toy broom, he was nowhere near as good as Harry. Harry pushed the toy broom way beyond its normal capacity. The broom almost looked... tired when Harry got off of it.

"You fly very well." The other dark haired boy complimented him on the way to the food table.

"So do you. We make a good team." Harry replied. "By the way, I'm Harry."

"I noticed. Cool scar." The boy replied. "I'm Neville. Neville Longbottom."

-------------------------------------Back, in the future that's also the past-------------------

"DAMN IT!" Ginny swore, collapsing on the bed next to Hermione. She had just finished putting a cast on her left arm. "We almost had him. I know that bone breaker made it through his shields!"

"Where'd he get those extra Inferi anyway?" Luna demanded of nobody in particular. Her robes and blouse were in tatters and covered in blood. They looked like claw marks. Inferius inflicted.

"I haven't the foggiest." Hermione sighed. She was holding an ice pack to her forehead because she didn't have the energy to cast magic. Her other arm is in a sling. "It's not like there's many people left to kill."

"Did Dean come through on that Muggle Snooper-ruffle idea of your's yet?" Ginny asked, massaging her shoulder.

"It's Sniper rifle, Ginny, and yes he did. We'll try it out tomorrow. We picked up about fifty of them and a trained teacher. We're to draw Voldemort out in the open again like we did today in a few weeks. By then, everyone should have all the instruction they need. Until then, our job is to heal while everyone else is learning. At least Voldemort doesn't have much left in the way of Death Eaters. We should get some time to rest."

Luna was leaning over Harry's body and examining him for breaks and injuries. "That thing we did where you all would 'Apparate' in and attack before popping back away worked wonders. Honestly. Voldemort didn't know what to think. It was hilarious. He kept cursing 'Potter and his damned friends' over and over again." Luna said simply.

"Yeah... the expression on his face when Ginny appeared behind him and cast a Reductor was priceless." Hermione let out an undignified snort.

"I still can't believe you cast a cheering charm on him!" Ginny exclaimed.

Hermione had the decency to blush. "He had me cornered. It was the first spell I could think of."

"Well next time that happens, I want to hear you say something that begins with 'Avada' and ends with 'die you soulless cocksucker!'" Ginny cackled. Hermione and Luna joined in on the laughter.

"How'd he manage to escape this time anyway?" Luna asked. "The anti-apparation and anti-portkey wards should have kept him there."

"He was retreating the entire time. He made it to the edge of the wards. Who would have thought the bastard would manage to retreat a full hundred yards in a single duel?" Hermione replied. "Merlin... even my tits ache."

Ginny laughed but it didn't reach her eyes. "Honestly, this shit would be a lot easier if Harry was still here."

"Yeah." Hermione agreed.

"Bad news ladies." Luna announced.

"Is there any other kind?" Hermione retorted.

"Nope, but at least nobody died this time." Luna replied. "Harry's knee is dislocated again."

"Aww man! Harry is going to kill us when he gets back." Hermione complained.

"I know." Ginny agreed. "Here, let me lend a hand, since old Armless Wonder over there couldn't be bothered."

"Hey!" Hermione exclaimed. "Remember what happened last time you had four bone breakers sent at you at once? You got hit by two of them! You were out of commission for well over a month!"

"It was three weeks you hag!" Ginny shot back.

"Hey, I thought we agreed not to brag about war wounds." Luna intervened. "Now give me a Hand Ginny."

"Yes, Mistress." Ginny said with a smirk and took hold of Harry's leg. "On three. One...Two...Three!

CRACK!

Hermione retched. "Ye gods, that is disgusting. Gets me every time."

"Tell me about it." Luna responded.

A/n: Ok, I know it wasn't as long as usual, but at least it's at the 2500 mark. Hope you don't mind too terribly. I'll try and update again soon.

1 According to a quick Google search, the SR-71 Blackbird travels at 2100MPH. That's 35 miles a minute. According to Google Maps, it's 372 miles from Dublin (where Harry lives) to London (where Williams Academy is). That means it would take roughly 11 minutes to reach Harry's house in a SR-71 Blackbird. It takes roughly that many _seconds_ in the van. You've gotta love magic :P.


	15. Chapter 14

A/n: 125,000+ hits! 647 reviews! You guys ROCK! I did a little math here, and according to my calculator, if you don't include All it takes in the figuring, this fic has more hits than the rest of my fics combined! Sorry these are taking so long to crank out. Thankfully, finals are over and I should have more time.

Also, I imagine that I'll have a bit of a time-hop after this chapter. Maybe until Harry hits 9 or 10.

Too Much Time On My Hands

Chapter Fourteen

(-----back in the future-----)

"Curse that Potter brat!" Voldemort exclaimed angrily. If he had any followers left, he might have Crucioed one of them.

Voldemort and "Harry" had battled eleven times in the past two months and each time it would drop to a standstill where one of them would escape right before the other would have defeated them.

Honestly, he needed a break. The population of england had plummeted to dangerously low numbers. London, once a city with millions of people in it was reduced to less than two hundred thousand. Voldemort was worried about not having anyone left to rule if the battles kept getting this bloody.

With the hopes of recouperating his forces, Voldemort activated his international Portkey. Run today, come back with an army tomorrow was his motto. And around his neck, dangled a very powerful magical artifact. He had plundered it from the remains of the Ministry building and knew it would help him on his road to victory.

It was a time turner.

(------With Harry------)

Harry and Neville took turns visiting each other's houses as often as possible over the next few days. Harry helped Neville tend plants in his greenhouse and Neville joined in on Harry and Sirius's potions making lessons in the basement. As Neville didn't have a wand, they didn't try to practice magic, but Neville began to appreciate the parallels between potions and Herbology and enjoyed himself immensely.

During the days, Harry went to school. The initial testing period for classes was finally over and Harry and Hermione had both been shuffled into classes of the appropriate level for their skill level. Harry swapped his schedule around slightly when his genius started arousing a little too much attention and he started taking classes that he knew absolutely nothing about. True, in some areas Harry could have taken a college class. In others he was just as clueless as the kid his age was supposed to be.

It was arranged that as long as Harry continued to test out of the required classes, he could take whatever courses he liked. In addition to the classes he knew nothing about, he took roughly every class Hermione took as well so that she'd have company.

Between Harry's newfound time management skills and the lighter workload, Harry found he had almost too much time and began to fill it accordingly.

Every morning, regardless of weather or if it was a school day, Harry found himself at Longbottom Manor on one of the old "Comet 260" broomsticks playing an exhausting game of tag with Neville. After the game, Harry would shower at Neville's, change into his clean clothes and Floo home in time to go to school, or wherever it was he was going that day.

Pretty soon, it was Halloween. The day Harry was going to teach Hermione about magic.

After class, Harry and Hermione piled into the back seat of the van. Sirius and Remus occupied the front seats.

"Buckle up." Harry advised. "This thing goes fast."

Hermione buckled the seat belt and they drove down the road a few blocks.

"What are you talking about Harry? This isn't very -urk!" Hermione was cut off as the van went into its "hyperspace" mode and rocketed off towards Ireland.

The van jolted to a halt in Harry's driveway. Hermione gave Harry an incredulous look.

"What?" Harry asked. "I told you it goes fast. Come on, I'll get your bag."

Hermione nursed her fried brain into zombie mode and hobbled out of the van and towards the regular looking (but quite large) house.

"Just wait til' you meet Townofaah. You'll get along great!" Harry said enthusiastically.

Hermione relaxed a little bit when she got inside the house. It didn't look so bad. Maybe the van thing was just a fluke. She was just easing into the deception her mind had created for her when something scaly wrapped itself around her neck. She screamed.

Townofaah had been flying through the air and had decided to wrap his tail around Hermione's neck. It looped around so his head was right in front of Hermione's face.

"Harry! There's a snake in here!" she screeched, trying to loosen Townofaah's grip on her neck.

"Oh!" Harry said. "I see you've met. Hermione, this is my friend and resident Coatl of the mansion. His name is Townofaah."

Harry turned to Townofaah and hissed. "_Townofaah, this is my friend I wished to introduce to you. Her name is Hermione Granger."_

Townofaah licked at the air to smell a few times. _"I like her."_ Townofaah hissed. _"Intelligent, strong willed... oh and natural basic Occulmency defenses. How quaint. And, she smells nice, which is more than I can say for some humans around here." _Townofaah shot a glare in Sirius's general direction. The rainbow colored winged snake draped itself across Hermione a little more loosely. While she was not entirely comfortable with a snake about her neck, she at least knew it meant no harm and didn't feel up to disturbing it.

Hermione was currently in the early stages of denial. She hadn't quite gotten to the point where she realized this wasn't some weird dream.

"Right, so how soon until we get into costume?" Hermione asked.

"Neville should be here in about an hour. We'll get dressed then." Harry answered. "What should we do until then?"

"Well, I brought some of my favorite dolls. And of course the staff members of Hagfarts." they shared a laugh.

"My room's a good place to play." Harry replied. The two of them bounded up the stairs like the children they were and headed into Harry's room. Hermione's mind was already trying to deny the magic she'd seen.

(-----Sirius-----)

"Hag, Goblin, Centaur, cast!" Sirius and Remus waved their wands and images blasted out of the ends. Sirius had an image of a goblin whereas Remus had a Centaur. Sirius had lost.

"C'mon Remus, best three out of five?" Sirius pleaded.

"In your dreams! That was the best of three now go. It's your turn to do the laundry, fair and square." Remus responded.

Sirius walked up the steps, grumbling something about house elves. Sirius reached the upstairs landing and heard voices coming from Harry's room.

'Is he doing impressions?' Sirius wondered. He approached the open door so he could listen better.

"I am Crepe, the Chemistry master!" Harry sneered. "You! I don't like you! detention!"

Hermione giggled and Sirius grinned.

"Harry, Harry, Harry..." Sirius said, walking into Harry's room. "You've got the voice all wrong! It's more like this: I am Crepe, the Notions Disaster! I should keep my abnormally long nose out of other people's business!"

Harry and Hermione laughed hysterically. Harry surrendered the Crepe doll to Sirius and picked up Elvis Bumblemore's doll.

"Headmaster Bumblemore! Notions Disaster Crepe is being unfair to certain students in class!" Hermione's student exclaimed.

Harry had the doll cover its ears. "What's that dear girl? I can't hear you, speak up!"

"I SAID PROFESSOR CREPE IS BEING UNFAIR!" Hermione's student said louder.

"LA LA LA LA! I CAN'T HEAR YOU! LA LA LA LA!" Bumblemore chanted with his ears covered.

"Sirius, are you still up here?" Remus asked from the hallway. Sirius stuck his hand with the Crepe doll into the hallway but nothing else.

"You must be mistaken. I am Notions Disaster Snivellus Crepe! Sirius Black is much more beautiful than I am. He washes his hair!" This was greeted by a roar of laughter from the room.

Remus raised an eyebrow but his curiosity got the better of him. He walked into Harry's room and picked up another doll. He made a few alterations while Hermione wasn't looking and he now had "Greenrear Clayback" and his cohort "Squealer Petty-shrew"

By the time Neville arrived, Harry, Hermione, Sirius and Remus were laughing so hard their faces were red.

"Erm..." Neville started. "Did I miss something?"

Half an hour later, the three of them were in costume and what a sight they made. A rabbit, a Dementor and a Vampire with a talking Grim following behind.

(-----Later-----)

"Oh man... so much candy. We're gong to be sick if we eat all this." Neville said with a grin.

"I don't even know what half this stuff is!" Hermione exclaimed. "What is a chocolate frog, anyway?"

"Just what it sounds like." Harry replied. "If you don't like them, pass them here and I'll give you a sugar quill or something."

Upstairs, Sirius was grinning. "I can't believe they agreed to an 'escort tax!'" Sirius exclaimed. "I got five pieces of candy for every hundred they had from each of them."

Sirius was itching to open the pillowcase he had that the kids had practically filled with candy.

"Dibs on a frog." Remus replied.

"Sure, okay." Sirius agreed, opening his bag. "Let's see here... Cockroach Cluster, Cockroach Cluster, Acid Pop, Blood Pop... Aww man! They screwed us. There isn't a single Sugar Quill. Just... Two ice mice and a Chocolate Frog. I haven't ever seen this many Cockroach Clusters in one place! Even Honeydukes doesn't have this many!"Sirius grumbled for a second, not noticing the only Chocolate Frog levitating out of his bag until it was too late.

"Hey!" Sirius exclaimed.

Remus shrugged, his mouth full of chocolate. "Like I said. Dibs."

(-----Back downstairs-----)

"By the way, Hermione." Harry started. "I assume you noticed some of the magical things that go on here. Candies that can jump, people who can transform into dogs... that sorta stuff. Right?"

"Yeah." She replied as if it was something she accepted as a fact of life.

"You know you shouldn't tell your parents about this right?" Harry asked.

Hermione shrugged. "They wouldn't believe me anyway."

(--------------)

Months went by and the three friends grew closer. Halloween gave way to Christmas, and winter gave way to spring. The three of them hunted Easter eggs together at Longbottom Manor, and that summer, Harry and Neville had a joint birthday party as they shared the same birth date.

Harry fell into a routine balancing his school, his magical training, his reading and his time with friends. Hermione's Birthday rolled around and it was followed by another Halloween

The cycle repeated itself as the children learned and grew. After watching them play so many times, Hermione got up the courage to fly on a toy broomstick, only a few feet off the ground. Practice and help from her two best friends graduated her to the slowest broom Neville owned (the Comet 130.)

Soon, they were able to play tag once more. While Hermione wasn't nearly as good a flier as Harry or Neville, she was fair and they let her use a better broom than they had to compensate, allowing them to play a fairly well matched game of tag. Hermione's confidence grew, and when the boys received identical Nimbus 1500s on their birthdays, they saved up a collection of their birthday money and did odd jobs around the house so that by the time Hermione's birthday rolled around, they could get her one too.

With two males being her only friends at such a young age, Hermione's interests changed a bit, to meet theirs. As she didn't enjoy it much anyway, Hermione left her dance class to join Harry in track and field. Harry took up gymnastics and football ((not American football. I mean soccer... honestly why can't we all just call soccer football, and call football handball since you do more throwing than kicking anyway.)) and he began to pick up muscle mass because of it.

In his third year at Williams Academy, some of the social sciences were opened for him. Harry dropped an English class and a Math class to make room for Psychology and Sociology in his schedule.

That year passed in the same manner as the previous one with good times, amusing vacations and growth all around.

Harry didn't learn much from Psychology and didn't sign up for Psychology 2 the next year and took Anatomy/Physiology instead. There wasn't an advanced Sociology class, so Harry took Macroeconomics. Williams academy required him to take two additional classes during his fourth year and so Harry took Advanced Biology and advanced Chemistry. He had to have the principal sign a waiver for him to take them, but Harry passed the classes with flying colors anyway.

Hermione somehow gleaned the fact that she was a witch from their discussions and realized that she'd already realized it a long time ago. Afterwards, she joined Harry and Neville in Herbology and Potions-making. Harry had let both of his friends know that he practiced his magic, and had offered his wand for them to try, but both declined. Neville, because he wanted to cast magic for the first time with a wand suited for him, and not borrowing someone else's. Hermione declined out of fear of breaking the law.

Now, Harry was ten and a half. It was January third. Nine months until Hogwarts started, and Harry began to panic. He needed to plan something, and he needed it quick. How else would he keep Voldemort from getting the Sorceror's Stone during his first year.

Harry felt like bashing his head into a wall or something. Nine years he'd been here, and what had he done to thwart Voldemort. Nothing! Nada! Zip! Harry was furious with himself for only about three days and threw himself into his magical studies. It was getting close to bedtime on the third day when he finally figured out what he needed to do.

Harry closed his textbook and rushed upstairs. He grabbed a quill, some ink and a piece of parchment. His quill slowly scratched out the first few words.

"Dear Mr. Quirinus Quirrell..." Harry wrote


	16. Chapter 15

A/n: There is no "right" or "wrong" way for time travel to work. I realize my method is a little buggy. If you would prefer for me to stop updating completely so I can fix all the previous chapters, let me know. Until then, leave me be until I re-write it. I do have a plan to tie together all my evil little loose ends into a pretty little bow. In the case of the time travel, wait until the end to critique it. I have gotten more complaints about my time travel than anything else. If you did complain and I didn't respond it isn't because I don't care. It's because I had so many reviews similar to yours that I couldn't answer them all.

Thanks for understanding,

Neopyro

Too Much Time on my Hands

Chapter Fifteen

"_Dear Mr. Quirinus Quirrell,_

_My name is Harry Potter. I realize you may only know who I am through my overly exaggerated fame, I know who you are and would very much like to meet you. I have heard of your many conquests against the Dark Arts and those who practice them. I heard from a reliable source that you are about to go on an extended vacation to Albania. I would like to arrange a meeting before that time._

_Send your reply via owl, and you may set the place and time of our meeting if you prefer._

_Thank you,_

_Harry J. Potter"_

Harry sealed the envelope and passed it to Townofaah. His familiar morphed into an oversized own and flew out the open window. Now, all he had to do was wait.

Well, not just that. Harry felt it was just about time to come clean with his two best friends. About some things, anyway.

(---------------)

Harry's second idea was even better than the first. In a way, it was to help with the future, for when Voldemort invariably attempted to regain his body through the old ritual involving bone, blood and flesh.

Both blood and flesh could be easily retrieved from other enemies and servants… but bone. Well, Voldemort only had one father didn't he?

While waiting for Quirrell to respond, Harry acted. In the middle of the night, Harry snuck out of the house and made his way to the street. Townofaah masked Harry's appearance and he appeared as a 30something slightly inebriated wizard. Harry stuck out his wand, and took the knight bus into Little Hangleton. That time of night the bus driver barely spoke to anyone who entered, only asking their destination.

Harry left the bus and found his way into the quiet village.

Nobody noticed him as he walked through the town and found his way to the old cemetery. Nobody noticed him as he erected silencing charms and used a few high-powered hexes to remove the soil from Tom Riddle Senior's grave. Nobody saw him remove every last speck of dust and bone from the coffin and replace it.

Harry replaced the soil and Townofaah changed his appearance once more. The elderly witch that got on the Knight bus looked nothing like the 30something that had gotten off there. Harry took the bus back to Dublin and used Muggle transportation to get the rest of the way home. He'd done it, and nobody was the wiser. Harry collapsed into his bed just before sunrise. It was going to be a long day.

(--------------------------------)

The fireplace roared and Neville stepped out, somehow managing to keep any ash from falling on him. The Neville Harry knew in this world was far more graceful than the Neville he used to remember. He wasn't vain, he was just tidy. He wasn't afraid to play in the mud or romp about in the rain. He just liked to clean himself up when he was done. Where the old Neville was scatterbrained and clumsy, the new Neville was disciplined and graceful.

"Hey mate, how've you been?" Neville inquired after stepping out from the fireplace. He effortlessly tossed his sleepover bag onto a nearby couch as if he was his own home. Although in a way it was, since he spent almost as much time at Harry's place as he did at his own house.

"About the same as I was the day before yesterday." Harry replied with a grin.

"Same here." Neville grinned "Where's the Hermit? Is she over?" Neville had thought up the nickname during a potions class in Harry's basement a few months ago and took special caution to only call Hermione that when she was out of smacking range. She'd recently been more accepting of the moniker, but only because she started calling him "Thongbottom." It was a fair trade in Harry's opinion. Just so long as he didn't earn a nickname of his own.

"Actually she's right behind you." Harry replied. Neville got a look on his face, like the world was about in a cold, dark and painful way. He turned his head ever-so-slowly around to confirm his fears and was greeted by a painful smack.

"Good afternoon Mr. Thongbottom. You seem to be in a fine state this morning." Hermione said with a smirk.

"Actually it's afternoon. Are you sure muggles haven't invented watches yet?" Neville retorted.

"Oh, you wizards are a fine bunch to talk. Why don't you try and say the word 'electricity' without using the letter K?" Hermione snapped.

Their banter would have continued if Harry hadn't interrupted it with his laughter.

"What's so funny Pot-For-Brains? Do we need to speak slower?" Neville sneered.

"Actually, I was thinking you two should get married." Harry replied smugly.

"WHAT?!?" they screeched simultaneously. "Why?" Hermione added.

"Because then Hermione would be known to everyone as Hermit Thongbottom!" Harry exclaimed with glee. Hermione and Neville shared a look. Harry started running, his laughter echoing behind him as he ran.

They cornered him on his way to the broom shed and hosed him down (it was the middle of January) and Harry had to return inside and cast a few warming and drying spells on himself. They finally settled down in the living room and conversation reached a lull.

"Besides my burning desire to get soaked with a hose, I did actually invite you over for a reason." Harry said.

"What is it Tom Sawyer? Did you decide that harvesting armadillo bile was something that we really needed to learn? Is your room dirty? Should we bake you some muffins to help you feel better? Do you need-"Harry interrupted Hermione's patronizing sarcasm.

"No work. I was going to show you another one of my cool abilities I discovered awhile ago, but nevermind." Harry responded.

Neville arched an eyebrow. "So you're a little more powerful than usual. That doesn't mean you have cool abilities."

"_Mongolian death cheese! Purple bubblegum!"_ Harry hissed in Parseltongue. Neville's head whipped around as he expected Townofaah to drop on him from somewhere.

"Ok, so you can do something we can't. That doesn't mean you have all these other abilities you can pull out of your-" Hermione was really starting to build up steam for a full-scale rant. Harry stopped it in the best way he could think of. Showing her exactly what he was talking about.

"**_HERMIT!"_** Harry thought, projecting it into her head.

"How….?" Hermione asked, her voice full of wonder.

"What? What did you do? I don't understand!" Neville exclaimed.

"_**Neville… Give me a minute and I'll explain. A bit."**_

Neville gulped and silenced himself.

"It was a spell. I found it in an old runes book, and cast it. I don't think I can explain… So let me show you."

Harry reached into both of their minds and started displaying different images from his previous life. Everything from his eleventh birthday with Hagrid to the spell he cast after Albus Dumbledore's death that brought him here. And finally, he showed them Neville's death.

They must have sat there for hours, Harry passing along these memories to explain how he got here and why he was so… how he was. He explained every mental question they had.

"I had to tell you two… I had to. I didn't want you to get roped into this war without first knowing what you were getting into. Neville died because he was my friend. Sirius died because I made a mistake… You needed to know. Things are going to be rough at Hogwarts. I want you two to be ready for it, even if you avoid me like the plague. (Although I think these days the plague might be a little less fatal) What I'm saying is…. The choice is yours."

Harry turned and left the room, giving them some time to talk.

'Did I do the right thing?' Harry thought, plopping down on his couch. He continued to worry for a while longer before dozing off. He dreamed. It wasn't pretty.

(-------------------------------)

_Voldemort turned the hourglass over for what must have been the millionth time. Still, he was right where he wanted (and needed) to be. His first thought had been to go back and kill Harry Potter, but he realized that without Potter, he would be unable to be resurrected. Potter needed to be alive at least until the end of his fourth year._

_Two years from where he was right now. The invisibility cloak he wore (Alastor Moody's own personal cloak as a matter of fact) rubbed gently against his skin as he stood there… and waited._

_At last, his time had arrived. He heard the bathroom door swing open. Two boys and a protesting professor ran into the room. Twelve-year-old Harry Potter hissed the word "Open" in Parseltongue and he heard the secret passageway open. After some quibbling, the professor went down first._

_Voldemort waited, perhaps a minute. Maybe longer. He left the stall he was occupying and made his way over to the passage. "Reveal the stairs!" he whispered in Parseltongue. Stairs appeared almost out of nowhere and Voldemort walked down._

_He almost chuckled at the scene that was before him. The young Weasley was threatening a now-insane professor who was almost through his fifth rendition of "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts." He debated killing them but decided to play this conservatively. Instead, he cast a silent "incarcerous." Ropes appeared from the end of his wand and bound the Weasley youngest to the professor. He followed it up with a silencing charm. They could still hear each other but nobody else could. A small amount of creative wand-work destroyed the rubble blocking the tunnel. He found his way into the main chamber. Potter was laying on the ground, a phoenix on his chest and a gaping wound in his arm from the basilisk fang. There, he saw a shadow of himself (actually, a portion of his very soul) mocking them both, foolishly forgetting about the healing powers of phoenix tears._

_He raised his wand, ready for the opportune time to act. Suddenly, Potter retrieved the Basilisk fang from the floor and raised it to strike._

"_Stupefy!" he cast. Potter stopped, fang just inches from his diary. His Horcrux._

_He removed the cloak from his shoulders and reached out a hand to his other self. _

"_I have prepared a list of the rituals I have went through to achieve the power I have today. Do them and you too will reach the immortal state I have achieved. I have not the sight to rule the world alone. Too many events happening for me to keep track of. Join me and you shall achieve immortality, and once I rule the world, I will cede you North America." Voldemort said to Tom Riddle. Both smirked and they shook hands. Voldemort handed him the list._

"_Go to the forests of Albania, for that is the best place to prepare." _

_Voldemort turned his Time Turner over just as Ginny Weasley drew her last breath._

Ginny Weasley was dead.

(------------------------------)

Harry rolled off the couch he was laying on. He sank his teeth into his hand between his thumb and forefinger to keep from crying out. Silent tears trickled down his face as he completely ignored the pain in his hand.

Harry felt his heart breaking inside his chest as his second girlfriend (and the only one he really cared about) was killed in such a way that meant he had never even dated her.

(-------------------------)

Voldemort had created a paradox that he was completely unaware of. Ginny Weasley was required to cast the spell that sent Harry back in time. Because she was dead, she never cast the spell.

But she had cast the spell, and to prove it, Harry already was in the past (sent there by a spell that both was and wasn't cast.)

Time was torn in a way that never should have happened and as such, it began to repair itself, using not one but several things that should never happen.

Paradoxes and impossibilities stacked on top of each other until time had but one solution.

The two worlds involved would have to merge. The powers that be convened and so it was decreed. When the day that Harry stepped into the past occurred in his new world, a portal would be opened. 24 hours after opening the portal would close once more, and whichever side of the portal Harry was on would become the primary world. Every event that happened in that world would become the true events. The other world would be overwritten.


	17. Chapter 16

A/n: My apologies to my ever faithful reviewer, ThunderGod. He was the only one who voted for the re-write. Actually, I would need to seriously think about how I want the timelines to flow (or how to better explain it) before I actually make changes. Let's see where I end up once I finish this.

PS: ThunderGod: If you want to have some sort of email/aim conference on what changes should be made to make my story better, just send me something and I'll respond. My contact information is on my bio page.

Too Much Time on My Hands

Chapter Sixteen

Neville and Hermione discussed everything they saw of Harry's life for several hours that night. Both of them decided that they would stand by Harry through his fight, one way or another.

Harry had fallen asleep on the couch after hearing of Ginny's death. He healed his hand, dried his eyes and wandered back in with them awhile later. Neville and Hermione then forced Harry to explain every single thing he changed in this life, what he planned to change in the future, his ultimate goals and how it was he intended to achieve them.

Eventually, they all went to separate bedrooms and slept.

Or rather, didn't. Harry stayed up most of the night worrying and his friends returned to the front room after they thought he'd fallen asleep to talk about his previous life before.

Harry knew that by telling Hermione and Neville that things would change. He was still unsure if the changes would be for the better or the worse. But never in his wildest dreams and nightmares did he see what actually happened.

The three children awoke around noon the next morning. All three were still groggy and tired from the night before but neither of them could bring themselves to sleep any later.

Harry staggered down the stairs and finally to the kitchen where Neville and Hermione were already helping themselves to some cereal.

"Morning." Harry grunted.

"Afternoon." Hermione corrected.

"Whatever." Harry replied. They all giggled in response and then an awkward silence settled over the table, broken only by the occasional crunch of cereal getting pulverized by teeth.

"So…" Hermione said awkwardly, attempting to start conversation.

"Huh?" Harry responded intelligently.

"It's like this." Neville finally broke in. "We've realized that you can't do everything to defeat Voldemort by yourself. You need help of the secretarial kind. Essentially, there are so many ways for Voldemort to come back to life that you cannot possibly cover them all. You would need to be in several places at once. That's where we come in. If you can get both prepared up until say… the end of first year by the end of the summer then we can spend all that time we would usually spend studying and doing homework on preparing for the future."

Hermione continued from where Neville left off. "It was right about then that we realized that we really needed to be in three places at once. Or, in this case three houses at once. You gave us the idea, really. You thought you could influence the sorting hat in such a way that you could choose your own house. Each of us covers a house but that still leaves us one short."

"So… I'm a Slytherin, Neville's a Hufflepuff and You're a Ravenclaw. We talk to Ron and get him to cover Gryffindor, right?" Harry inquired.

"No, Harry. What's the purpose of having you be in a different house this time through?" Hermione asked.

"To make new friends and contacts that would be willing to fight Voldemort." Harry replied.

"But who would lead them?" Hermione persisted.

"Probably me. What are you getting at?"

"Harry, name me one Gryffindor that would follow a Slytherin into battle?"

Harry's mouth opened and closed like a fish. She had one hell of a point.

"Slytherins won't follow Gryffindors either though." Harry pointed out.

"We know Harry." Hermione responded.

"That means I'd have to be a Ravenclaw. I studied enough. That puts Neville in Hufflepuff and you in Gryffindor and we'd be short a Slytherin still."

"Harry, think about the differences between Neville last life and Neville this life. He doesn't have the Hufflepufffish tendencies brought on by starving for affection and from being the Underdog all the time. He'd make a better Ravenclaw this life than a Hufflepuff."

"So you're saying…?" Harry asked.

"Harry, you have to be the Hufflepuff. Between Luna, Neville and I we have plenty of potential Ravenclaws but no potential Hufflepuffs. By being a Hufflepuff, you are completely neutral, able to talk to those on both sides. You can help bridge the gap between Gryffindors and Slytherins, and you can still easily reach the Ravenclaws."

"But that leaves us without a Slytherin." Harry replied.

"Not necessarily." Hermione replied. "As much as it pains me to admit it, Neville can be sly on occasion. He is a pureblood, and he has ambition. Neville can be the Slytherin, I can be the Ravenclaw, Ron can be the Gryffindor and you are the Hufflepuff."

Harry's brow furrowed for a moment as he thought it over. The corners of his mouth twitched upward before stretching into a full fledged grin. "I think I have an idea. I'm going to do some research."

Harry returned from his library a few hours later. Neville and Hermione were making what looked to be a calming draught in the basement.

"Back from the research? You know, if you wanted to know tat Hufflepuffs are worthless I could have told you. You didn't need to look it up." Neville said with a smirk.

"Actually, I found that they are simply lacking leadership, Thongbottom." Neville snorted.

"And what brings you to this conclusion, Sage Potter? I imagine you had to smoke something first?" Neville said, mockingly.

"Shut up, Thongbottom. I'm trying to talk to Hermione." Neville rolled his eyes, but quieted down.

"Imagine something for a second, Hermione." Harry said, his grin dominating his face. "Imagine an army where any one member of it would be willing to give up their life in order to save the life of any other. And an army that lacks slightly in skill but makes up for it with an unrivaled work ethic. If they don't get something right the first time, they would be willing to pick themselves up and try it again."

"I'd imagine that's why there's so many of them." Neville snickered. Harry drew his wand and silenced Neville. Hermione glared in his general direction before responding.

"I'm imagining it. It sounds a bit disorderly really. A few well placed fire curses could take out the whole lot of them, I'd assume." Hermione answered.

"Well, I know I saw you read 'Hogwarts: a History' the other day. When was the last year that Hufflepuff won the house cup two years or more in a row?" Harry asked.

"It was nine…. No, eighteen seventy-seven." she said smugly.

"A seven year run, if I'm not mistaken. Beginning in 1870, right?"

"Yes." Hermione affirmed.

"1870 was Gregory the Smarmy's first year at Hogwarts. He was a Hufflepuff and was extremely popular for his jokes. He was rumored to be a gifted leader. Before that, when was the next back to back Hufflepuff win?"

"It was in the late eighteen fifties, I think. A six year winning streak." Hermione said.

"That would be Albus Dumbledore's years at Hogwarts. He was a Hufflepuff, you know. I looked him up in old school yearbooks during my grief after his death in my previous life. You can keep going back if you want, but you'll discover that it's a trend. Every time the Hufflepuffs won more than two or three house cups in a row, there was a Hufflepuff famous for their leadership skills (amongst other things) attending Hogwarts at that time. I checked it as far back as Headmaster Everard in the 14th century. He went to school around the same time as Fingal the Fearless and with the overlap between them, Hufflepuff managed to win 12 house cups in a row. Their biggest winning streak on record, actually. Although, I bet if we had the listings of who won the House cup the most while Helga Hufflepuff was alive…"

Hermione got that look like she needed to go to the library instantly. She left the room. Harry remove his silencing charm from Neville and asked "Anything you want to add?"

"You have got to be kidding!" Neville exclaimed. "The Puffers actually won a house cup?"

"Not a house cup, Neville. Thirteen of them in a row. Even Gryffindor only has a record of fifteen, and that was right after the Children's massacre in the fifteenth century. The Dark Lord of the time turned his followers and their children no matter how young into vampires. In the battle that followed, Slytherins were reduced to near-extinction and their house didn't get back to regular levels of admissions for the next twelve years. There actually was a year with no new Slytherins. Two of the years had one Slytherin, one had two and five of them had three…"

"Remind me to never play you in any trivia game. Ever." Neville said, returning to his potion.

Harry walked upstairs in time to watch an owl start pecking at the window. The note attached was addressed to him, so he opened it.

_Mr. Potter,_

_My apologies for not responding to your letter sooner. As you are aware, I am leaving for my vacation within the week. If you would still like to meet, I am staying at the Leaky Cauldron in London from Saturday until Wednesday morning. I am in Room 13. Leave a Floo address where I can contact you should you not reach me at my room. Stop by at your earliest convenience._

_Quirinus Quirrell_

Harry looked at the clock. Sirius was curled up on the couch as Padfoot, snoozing. Hermione was reading. Neville was working on a potion.

Essentially, nobody would notice if he left. Harry gathered a few important things (Wand, Galleons, etc.) and flooed to the Leaky Cauldron.

Harry walked in as if he owned the place and headed up to room thirteen. He knocked politely on the door and waited.

"Just a moment." Said a voice on the other side.

The door unlocked and swung open.

"Hello, Mr. Potter. You arrived quicker than I'd expected. Please, come in or would you prefer to speak at a table downstairs?" Quirinus Quirrell said in an inviting voice that was, oddly enough completely lacking a stutter. He was completely bald and yet didn't wear the turban he'd always remembered him having. It was quite obvious that he did not have Voldemort sticking out of the back of his head.

"Here is fine." Harry replied, entering the room.

"May I ask as to what the purpose of your visit might be?" Quirrell asked.

"You may. Let me get to the point. Myself, and two other people my age would be extremely interested in hiring you as a tutor. As two of us are heirs to a fairly sizable fortune and the third has two parents with fairly sturdy jobs, we can pay you a good bit of money."

"Mr. Potter, you might want to work on your timing. As I said, I was about to-"

"Study dark creatures in the forests of Albania in hopes that by writing a book on your travels you will make enough money to get by." Harry finished. "As I said, I did some research. We didn't simply pick you on a whim. I heard you were the best. Not through your skill at straight Defence against the Dark arts, as there are many Aurors that could surpass your skill. It is your improvisation technique that interests us. While never particularly gifted in fighting the dark arts, you used your skills in Transfiguration and Charms to your advantage and soon became one of the leading practical scholars in Defense against the Dark Arts. Can you name me any other wizard save Albus Dumbledore capable of that?"

"Wow, Mr. Potter. You did do your homework… Did you have a starting price or a schedule in mind?"

"As a matter of fact, I did. You start Monday evening. How does fifteen galleons an hour sound?" ((15 Galleons an hour is roughly 75 pounds an hour, or $160 an hour. In other words, good money.))

Harry returned home and Sirius still hadn't awoken. Harry was still grinning and decided to get him up. Harry scratched behind his ear until his feet began to thump and he woke up.

"Morning." Harry said, wrapping his Godfather into a large hug.

"Evening." Sirius said, back in human form.

"Whatever. I was thinking about dinner sometime soon." Harry replied

"Delivery?" Sirius asked.

"Actually…" Harry said, tightening his hug. "I was thinking we could make something ourselves."

Sirius grinned back. "You know? I've always wondered what avocado pizza would taste like."


	18. Chapter 17

Too Much Time On My Hands

Chapter Seventeen

"Focus, Harry!" Quirrell reprimanded Harry for what felt like the trillionth time. Quirrell had been tutoring Harry, Hermione and Neville every weeknight for the last two months now. Quirrell had quickly caught on that Harry was far more talented at magic than the other two. To keep Harry from being bored, he would often give a difficult (for them) task to Neville and Hermione while taking Harry aside and "pushing his limits." Harry was still holding back as best he could, making himself appear at roughly the skill level of a gifted second year. Because he was forced to hold back his magic for all his spells, he gained a better control of it. It felt like he was strengthening a muscle that he had never used and was finally starting to reap some benefit. "The incantation is _elbbub elbicnivni_ not _elbow elbicini!_ This is a simple second year spell and well within your reach. Try it again."

"Sorry." Harry apologized.

"Don't apologize. Just do it." Quirrell responded.

Harry slashed his wand three times, making a rough triangle and shouted the incantation "_elbbub elbicnivni!_" This time, Harry felt something let go inside of him. He had lost his hold on his magical power and the spell came out as if he had cast it with his full power.

The air crackled with the sound of static electricity and a purple bubble enveloped Harry, protecting him completely. The shield was followed by a sound like something shot out of a cannon and a Shockwave swept through the room, sweeping Quirrell off his feet and knocking the door off its hinges.

Harry rushed over to Quirrell, letting the shield lapse in the process. "Are you okay?" He asked. "I'm so sorry!"

Instead of anger on the young teacher's face however, there was a big grin. And he was laughing. Loudly.

"You control yourself well, Harry." Quirrell said once his laughter died down. Harry's brow furrowed. He had just launched his teacher across the room with an overpowered spell and he was complimenting his control? He didn't understand.

"I don't understand." Harry responded.

"You know exactly what I am talking about, Mr. Potter. You have a lot more magical power than you have been showing me and I would appreciate if you came clean about it."

Harry blanched. "I... I guess I'm pretty good at this stuff." Harry responded modestly.

Quirrell snorted. "How dumb do you think I am?" Quirrell asked. "You just cast an Auror level shield charm with enough power left over to produce a Shockwave. You're better than 'pretty good.'"

Harry looked at his feet, like a child being scolded. In truth, he was planning. 'How the hell do I get out of this one?' he thought

"But here is what I really want to know." Quirrell continued. "Just how powerful are you? I'm still thinking of some way to test you that won't get you hurt."

"How about a duel?" Harry suggested, trying not to grin.

"That was one of the things I thought would get you hurt." Quirrell replied. "I was a Dueling champion, you know."

"I do. I also know that it's the only way you're going to find out just how tough I am." Harry said, deciding to make himself appear cocky and overconfident. He hoped it would lead to Quirrell underestimating him more than he already did.

"Is that so?" Quirrell asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It is. You think you've got what it takes, old man?" Actually, with both lives added together, Harry was only a few years younger than Quirrell.

Quirrell scoffed. "I'm just worried about scraping bits of you off the walls of this beautiful library of yours."

"Let's make this interesting then." Harry added. "How about a wager?" He was already spoiling for a fight. He hadn't had a real duel since his short scrap with Snape in his previous life just after Dumbledore's death. All that learning and nobody to practice on. In fact, the thought of a real duel was invigorating. He couldn't wait to get rid of all the rust.

"What do you propose?" Quirrell asked.

"If I win, you will vouch for me as a dueling champion so that I can legally enter this year's IMDA competition. As a champion, you can get me over the age requirement, provided I beat you in a duel."

"And if I win, I want you to tell me the whole truth about your powers. With a truth indicator spell, of course."

"Of course." Harry agreed. "What rules?"

"The standard. Nothing lethal, nothing illegal...yadda yadda yadda." Quirrell replied.

"Then start the counter old man."

Quirrell snapped his wand into the air and a large green number three appeared in the air. It counted down to zero and buzzed briefly like an alarm clock, signifying the start of the duel.

Harry launched the first spell of the battle. "_Hcnuprekcus!"_ The reason he cast it nonverbally was because it was just short of impossible to pronounce. Quirrell, not expecting something as lowdown and dirty as that, took the spell full on. He grunted and briefly dropped to his knees as the wind was knocked out of him. It was the one spell Harry knew that was fast enough to hit him early on. He knew that after it was cast, the gloves were off and he wouldn't be able to get many more hits in.

Harry followed his spell up with a bat bogie hex that missed. Quirrell regained his feet fast and fired off two spells Harry didn't recognize. One was purple and gelatinous. It struck a chair nearby and stuck the chair to the floor. The yellow cloudy spell whizzed over Harry's head. It smelled vaguely like sulfur and hissed when it collided with the wall. Harry's track and field training was helping him but it wasn't enough for him to keep up with a seasoned professional. He spent long enough dodging those two spells that Quirrell had already fired again.

"_Incarcerous!_" Quirrell cast. The conjured ropes flew at Harry and missed. Harry sent an overpowered stunner in Quirrell's general direction. It was too low and slightly to the left. Harry sidestepped Quirrell's next two charms and ended up standing on Quirrell's ropes. Quirrell's next spell was aimed at his feet. Harry hopped sideways and then realized that the spell hit exactly where it was supposed to. The ropes transfigured themselves into snakes. Harry grinned like a madman.

"_Get him!"_ Harry hissed. The snakes rushed towards Quirrell who hastily conjured a heron to fight off the reptilian threat. Quirrell hastily fired a pair of curses at Harry, one of which hit him before he could erect a shield. Harry popped into the air like the cork from a champagne bottle, smacked into the ceiling and fell back down.

Meanwhile, Quirrell's heron had been overcome by snakebites and had bit the dust. The three remaining snakes snapped at Quirrell's feet and he hopped away, giving Harry time to recover. Harry hissed another command to the snakes to hopefully buy him some more time.

Quirrell fired a Jumper Cable hex at Harry grazing him lightly. For the second time in just a few seconds, Harry was on the floor. Quirrell took the time he'd bought to decapitate one of Harry's remaining snakes.

Harry returned to his feet just as Quirrell had destroyed the second one of his snakes. The bald professor hopped back a step and there was a squishing sound. Quirrell had stepped into the purple goo from earlier in the duel. His boot was stuck. He lashed out with his wand and killed the final snake, giving Harry an opening.

Harry cast his spell and prayed that it worked. At the last second, Quirrell twisted out of the way of his spell.

His professor made a satisfied "Ha" sound and sent a pair of disarming charms at Harry. Harry flew backwards and watched his wand fly into his professor's hand.

"There." said Quirrell. "You see, I've won." He didn't notice the grin plastered across Harry's face. "Do you-"

Quirrell's bragging was silenced by a loud smacking sound as the bookshelf crashed into him from behind and threw him to the floor. Unconscious. Harry smiled and recalled the spell Quirrell had dodged. "Accio Bookshelf."

Harry repaired all the damage done to the room. HE vanished the remains f the stork and snakes, and cleaned up Quirrell's purple goo. The bookshelf was returned to its place, the chair was righted, and the books were placed back on the shelf. Harry checked Quirrell for damage. He had a minor sprain in his ankle, a nasty bruise on his hip and another on his head. Harry healed the ankle and left the bruises alone. He took Quirrell's wand and pointed his own at the teacher.

"_Ennervate."_ Harry cast. Quirrel sat upright quickly, looking a little lost.

"Who in the what now?" he managed.

"You lost, old man." Harry said with a grin. He extended a hand to help his instructor up.

Quirrell took the hand and Harry helped him to his feet. "How?" he asked.

"Luck mostly. And the fact that you didn't expect me to summon a bookshelf into your back."

"Wait... so that last spell you cast was a summoning charm?" Quirrell inquired.

"Yup." There was about a three second pause.

"Ingenious." Quirrell replied. "I guess I should get that paperwork to register you for the tournament."

"Nah." Harry said. "Don't bother."

"What? But you won! I thought that was what you wanted." Quirrell spluttered.

"Nope. I just wanted to thrash you. Why don't we go downstairs and discuss my powers over a nice cup of hot chocolate?"

"I...what?" Quirrell managed. Then he sighed. "I might need something stronger than hot chocolate."

"So let me get this straight..." Quirrell said. "At age seventeen you revised a runic spell that had never been successfully cast and sent your spirit, complete with your magical powers and memories back in time and merged it with your one year old self. You spent the next nine years sending letters to Albus Dumbledore to fix some things that made the world go wrong in your last life and studying. You saved your godfather from a life in prison, you kept your friend Hermione from being persecuted and friendless and saved your friend Neville's parents from being tortured into insanity. You've found that by doing all this traveling that your previous magical powers are growing in on top of your old ones, literally making it so that your powers are pretty much double what they were in your last life. Right?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." Harry replied.

Quirrell took another long swig of hot chocolate. "That's some story." he said after a few seconds.

Harry nodded his agreement.

"But here's what I don't get." Quirrell said. "What part did I play in your last life? Everything you've done so far has been about saving those close to you from certain death. Where was I in all this?"

Harry winced. "You died in my first year..." Harry said. "Or... more accurately, I killed you."

Quirrell looked vaguely haunted.

"Look into my eyes, and I'll show you."

Quirrell looked. Harry showed him the image of the stuttering professor wearing a turban all the time, and then showed him the confrontation in the room with the Mirror of Erised.

Quirrell gulped. He looked down at his feet for a moment. His eyes were shining.

"I... need to go. I'll be back at the usual time on Monday." Harry nodded his agreement and watched the professor apparate away.

Harry made his way upstairs to see Neville and Hermione.

"How'd it go?" Neville asked.

Harry sighed. "I don't know. We'll find out on Monday."

A/n: Not bad. Just short of the 2000 word mark, but considering the computer ate this thing twice (once when the power went out, once when my cat jumped up and backspaced all my selected text.) it's not so bad. Hope you enjoy it, and I'll try to update again soon.


	19. Chapter 18

A/n: Time jump time! I know there were requests for some other scenes... but let's face facts. I'm at Chapter 17 and Harry isn't at Hogwarts yet. I really want to get a jump start on this story... and the thought of Puffer Harry is making me squirm with anticipation. I still plan to get those scene requests in, just not in the same way I did previously.

Also, it's just occurred to me, I'm currently doing three AU fics, one with Harry the Puffer, one with Harry the Slytherin one AU with Harry still as a Gryff... now I just need a Ravenclaw... I wonder...

Too Much Time on My Hands

Chapter Eighteen

Quirinus Quirrell lit the fire in his fireplace and collapsed into the comfortable chair across from it. He massaged his temples, and looked out the window as if hoping for some sort of answer from above. The stars provided no response, so he stared into his glass of Firewhiskey instead. He pondered the images he'd seen that day. The memory he'd seen of his death was just a little more than a year in the future.

'How did I fall so far so fast?' he thought. 'How did I go from being a dueling champion and a defense scholar into little more than a host to a parasite, carrying around Voldemort on the back of my head.? How did all that happen in just a year? Is my life really that fragile?'

He drank deeply from his glass of Firewhiskey. He drained the rest of the glass but didn't refill it. The room was already warm from the fire and he'd had a physically, magically and emotionally exhausting day.

"Could someone give me some sort of idea as to what I should do?" He asked the empty room before he dozed off in his chair.

A few hours later, he was awakened by an owl tapping at the window. A Hogwarts owl. Quirrell opened the attached letter.

It was directly from the Headmaster, all but begging him to take the currently vacant defense position. He barely had to think about it. He accepted the invitation to teach and scrawled a brief note to Harry saying that he would resume his position as their dueling instructor in any capacity they wished. After that, he left his chair and fire, and found his way to his bedroom.

Harry filed a petition with the Principal to allow him to test out of his current classes. (except track & field, chemistry and music. He had switched instruments about a dozen times before finally choosing the violin and sticking with it. He was actually getting pretty good at it by now... and by pretty good he meant that he'd actually stopped coming to class and instead privately tutored with the instructor.) He aced all of the required tests and it allowed him to be home a lot more often to spend time with Sirius and Remus, or practice his dueling.

In the evenings, Quirrell came over and dueled Harry, pushing him to his limits. One lesson was spent with Harry pouring all his power into a shield charm with Quirrell, Hermione and Neville all throwing tickling charms at it. Sirius and Remus joined in when Harry's shield hadn't broken after half an hour. Fifteen minutes later, Quirrell allowed stunners to be cast. Harry held up for five more minutes before collapsing of exhaustion. Now the shield endurance training exercise was a weekly event. Gradually more and more powerful spells were allowed, and Harry's magical reserves grew. Quirrell taught Harry alternate shields to use and Harry eventually looked up a few of his own, surprising all of them. One lesson, Harry used a shield that sent weak spells back at the caster. Hermione was furious with him when she got hit by her own bat bogie hex.

In addition to dueling instruction, Neville and Hermione spent hours of time, practicing the personality traits of their planned house. Hermione barely needed to practice but Neville spent hours in front of the mirror rehearsing snide comebacks.

Time went by. The term ended and Summer came giving them even more free time. They became almost inseparable. Harry gained such a familiarity with Neville and Hermione's homes that he was actually granted permission to drop in at any time as if he was family.

Eventually their Hogwarts letters arrived. This was briefly followed by a trip to both Diagon Alley and Beast Road for school supplies. As a joke, Neville suggested Harry get some yellow robes. Harry tried on the robes only to find that they looked really good on him. So he bought them and got a nice yellow winter cloak to match them. (He'd always thought that black clothes made him look like a mime because of how pale his skin was.)

Harry actually wore his yellow robes at his joint birthday with Neville. (Held at Longbottom Manor this time as last time it was at Harry's house.) Presents and greetings came from everyone he knew (including a stuffed badger from Neville).

Soon, it was August 31st. The three of them were staying at Hermione's house as it was the closest to King's cross station. They were in the middle of a final rehearsal of the parts they would play once they got on the train when it happened. Hermione had gone out with her mother to help with the groceries or something. Neither of them had been paying much attention when Hermione's mother had told them.

"I can't take it anymore, Harry!" Neville exclaimed throwing down his quill.

Harry blinked, not quite catching on. Neville continued.

"I'm not a hero! I'm not an overpowered magical being from another universe who has been studying for years just to fulfill one purpose!"

Harry opened his mouth to respond but decided against it. He'd let Neville say his piece before responding.

"Normal wizards don't hear that in another life, their parents were tortured into insanity and that they died before being old enough to drink! Normal wizards don't spend every last moment of their lives studying so that they can eventually stand up to an immensely powerful dark wizard! Normal wizards don't do this, Harry. I don't think I can take it." Neville looked to be on the brink of tears. "Damn it, Harry, I'd follow you to hell and back... just...slow down for us, OK?"

Harry nodded solemnly. 95 of him was still a 10 year old boy like the rest of them, but he always overlooked that small part of himself that was approaching age 30. They sat in silence for about two minutes before Harry spoke.

"I just got an idea." he said. A look crossed Neville's face that said 'If you say the word Voldemort in the next 30 seconds, I'm leaving.'

"Did you bring your broom?" Harry asked.

Neville looked bashful. He knew first years weren't allowed to have brooms but was still going to attempt to smuggle it into Hogwarts.

"Yeah." he said.

"Go get it. We're going flying."

"Harry... you do know that we're in Hermione's neighborhood. A _muggle_ neighborhood." Neville pointed out, overemphasizing the 'Muggle' part.

"I'm aware of that. Get your broom anyway."

Neville rolled his eyes and went downstairs to get his trunk which he hadn't brought upstairs yet.

When he returned, Harry thrust a wad of clothing into Neville's arms.

"What's this?" Neville asked. "More school robes?"

Harry grinned. "Try them on. I'll put mine on in the bathroom."

"The socks and shoes too? What about the Dragonhide gloves?"

"All of them. Just trust me."

"Ok..." Neville said. There was a rustling as he got himself dressed.

"Ok, Harry. Spill it. What's different about these robes?" Neville asked him from outside the door. "They look just the same."

"I know... that's the beauty of them. Touch the button nearest to the collar and say 'Fuzzy pickles.'"

"Fuzzy pickles." Neville said. "HOLY SHIT!"

"I worked on these for months. I just finished the spell a few days ago and got the last ones made. There's a set for all of us. They were going to be for Christmas but I decided that now was a better occasion."

"This is so cool!" Neville exclaimed. "I'm like an Unspeakable or something! I'm invisible!"

"Yeah. We'll give Hermione hers when she gets home. Check out what's in the backpack that goes with it."

"OK... What is this? It's like a cloth tube with a zipper and a fat part at the end."

"That would be your broom cover." Harry said. "It's got the same spells on it that the clothes do. There should be a necklace in there too. It works along the same principle as a headless hat and it makes your head invisible."

"What's a headless hat?"Neville asked.

"Oh, right. Sorry. After your time." Harry responded. "Fuzzy pickles." Harry said opening the bathroom door.

"So are we actually going flying?" Neville asked.

"Uhmmm yeah. I know just where we should go too. "

"Where's that?" Neville asked.

"There's this really awesome Chinese joint on the other side of town that I discovered awhile ago when messing about with a time turner."

Neville grinned. "Sounds like a date."

The pair of ten year olds flew around like they'd never flown before. Harry guided Neville to where the Chinese joint was (they turned visible, and Harry shrunk their brooms and put them in his backpack along with their robes and Dragonhide gloves. They talked about everything they could think of except Voldemort, and Harry shared amusing stories of his first life at Hogwarts and Harry expected this time to be different. ("I'm actually kind of excited about being a Hufflepuff." he confessed.)

After two orders of steamed dumplings, a plate of pork fried rice, a couple of egg rolls and an entire pot of Chinese tea, they paid and headed for Hermione's house. They got back fifteen minutes before Hermione and her mother returned.

The boys kept the story of the evening's adventure to themselves despite repeated probing from Hermione. Harry jokingly added "We'll tell you when you're older." which caused Neville to start cackling like a madman.

After an hour of dirty looks, Harry gave Hermione her early Christmas present as well.

"School robes... How nice. I'll go pack them." She said with a sneer.

Neville looked like he was going to explode from holding back laughter.

'_Don't say a word!'_ Harry thought along the link, privately so Hermione didn't hear. '_When she turns around, pull your hands up your sleeves and whisper the code word.'_

Hermione turned, and the boys simultaneously vanished. Hermione sat there saying "Harry? Neville? Where'd you go?" and other such things. She even said it along the link. It was ruined about ten seconds later when Neville burst out laughing. Harry joined in and once they explained everything to Hermione, she joined in too. They all ended up staying up much later than they should have but the night they had was well worth it.

Another time, another place

Tom Riddle, soon to be Voldemort the second was happy. He had already completed half of the rituals his other self had suggested to him, and found a few of his own. But that wasn't what was making him so happy.

He'd recently discovered that unlike his predecessor, his soul was still complete. It was, after all not his own but stolen from that innocent seven year old girl. The diary still held the soul that was Tom Riddle's.

He could go about the task of making seven more Horcruxes. Two sevens. He would take the significance of the most powerful magical number and double it.

'Soon.' he thought. 'Soon I will no longer need the help of my older self. He is past his prime, where I am barely started.'

His laughter rang throughout the cavern. Undisturbed, with half a century worth of his older self's research before him, Tom resumed his work.

Sirius, Remus, The Longbottoms and the Grangers all showed up at the station to see them off. With three kids getting passed back and forth between six people for hugs, the goodbye process took close to half an hour.

"Remember, the kitchens are hidden behind the painting of the big bowl of fruit. You tickle the pear to get in. Make sure to be really nice to the elves or else they won't like enough to make those 'menu changes' we talked about." Sirius warned. Harry grinned. Harry and Sirius had spent weeks planning that particular prank. Sirius had shared with him every single prank idea he'd had since he graduated, as well as every one of the Marauder's pranks as it had been long enough that most of them could be safely recycled.

"If you ever have problems, remember that we're only an owl away." Remus added.

Harry shook Frank's hand in lieu of a hug. "Constant Vigilance, Harry. Remember that you can't trust everyone, even those in positions of authority." Frank had been mentored by Alastor Moody during his Auror training. He'd taken his mentor's mantra to heart. His second-hand paranoia had advanced him quickly through the Auror ranks. Now he was the assistant director under Amelia Bones. He played a key role in training students in Auror academy, and loved telling old war stories for Harry, Neville and Hermione in front of Longbottom Manor's fireplace.

"You keep our Neville in line, Harry." Alice Longbottom said, wrapping Harry in a big, motherly hug. Alice Longbottom was one of those people that puzzled you. It was like she was two different people. Though she still kept in great shape and was up at the Auror Academy training room before anyone else in the family woke up every morning, she would still make it home in time to make breakfast for everyone. Her name was one only mentioned in a low whisper by Auror Academy students for fear of her overhearing, and yet at home she was the ideal doting and caring mother. It never quite clicked how she could spend half of her time being a powerful officer of the law, feared (or at least respected) by all she met and the half of her time as the role model mother.

Harry got a hug and a handshake from Hermione's mother and father respectively. "Remember to floss, Harry!" they said simultaneously. Harry wondered idly if Muggles could somehow establish a mind link like the one he shared with his friends.

Finally, the three kids made their way onto the Hogwarts Express just as the engine shot a cloud of steam into the air indicating five minutes until departure.

They had discussed what seemed like a thousand times what they should do on the Hogwarts Express. Should they split up and try to make friends with as many people as possible? Should they stay together and have all of them make friends with one key person just make sure that it went well? Should they do some mixture of those to try and befriend two key people thoroughly? Should they open all of the compartments and introduce themselves to every single Hogwarts student on the train? The last idea was submitted as a joke by Neville but was actually discussed and considered as a viable option.

Hermione believed strongly that they should make an early showing that friendship transcends house loyalty. Harry countered that that would be more important once the school year actually started and they were sorted. Neville thought that they should find the people that played "key" roles in their respective houses and start early. He thought it was most important to gain the trust of those in your house first and then focus on extending your friendships outside of the house.

In the end, Neville's argument won out. Once they were inside the train, they split up and found their respective targets. Hermione found herself in a compartment with Terry Boot and Mandy Brocklehurst. Neville found his way into a compartment with Draco Malfoy and his mindless cronies Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. Harry, however had a far more important target. Harry found himself staring at the door of a compartment that currently contained only one student: Ronald Weasley. 'Ernie and Hannah can wait.' Harry thought. And with that, he opened the door.

A/n: It took me a good bit of thinking to choose which way I should have Harry and company's plans to go. I hope I didn't disappoint with the descriptions of Neville's family. Stay tuned for next chapter which contains (hopefully) the sorting.


	20. Chapter 19

**A/n: **I have come to the conclusion that I need to (eventually) re-write this entire fic, but would like to get some sort of a conclusion first, so that I have a complete outline. Things have been busy for me. I will try and spend more time on my writing in the future, but the way I've been going with these things, this is likely an empty promise. Enjoy the fic for what it is: a rough draft. Just glancing over old chapters, I see several weeks worth of work. Also, criticism is much appreciated. Tell me where I screwed up and I'll try and iron it out when I get to the revisions.

**Too Much Time on My Hands**

**Chapter Eighteen**

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**Ron's Compartment**

**The Hogwarts Express**

**September 1st, 1991**

Harry's determination from just a few moments ago melted away as Ron looked up from his corned beef sandwich and met his eyes. Harry felt a trickle of cowardice run through him. What if Ron didn't like him in this life? How much had Ron changed? Did they still have anything in common? Harry

remembered Neville's nervous breakdown from the day before. What if Ron would be happier without him? Could he in good faith ask Ron to devote his life to the fight with Voldemort? He now knew that he could not.

Neville's words from the day before were now making sense. All these allies he was trying to make were still just children. He couldn't just gather them up like pawns and march them across the board to be slaughtered by Voldemort in the vain hope that one would make it and become a queen.

Ron was still sitting there, patiently chewing his sandwich. "I-I think I have the wrong compartment." Harry stammered like the eleven year old he was. He closed the compartment door behind him and walked off to find Hannah and Ernie. He could at least mingle with his housemates while he contemplate what he should do next.

Dean and Seamus wandered into Ron's compartment after Harry left. 'Goodbye, Ron.' Harry thought. 'Have a nice life.'

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**Draco's Compartment**

**The Hogwarts Express**

**September 1st, 1991**

Neville found himself flanked by two massive boys upon walking into Draco's compartment. They both looked as if they'd started shaving around age four. He assumed it was right after they'd gotten their first lobotomies.

"Hey." Neville greeted. "_Wingardrium Leviosa_." Neville levitated his trunk onto the rack and took the last remaining seat.

"What do you think you're doing?" Draco sneered menacingly

"I thought that was apparent." Neville replied. "The compartment was designed for four people. There were three. I placed my stuff on the rack and filled said seat."

"I _meant_ why did you pick this compartment when there are so many others to choose from?" Draco spat.

"It seemed like a nice place to sit. Why'd you pick it?" Neville responded coolly.

Draco glared. "This was our compartment. You would be wise to pick up your filthy mudblood things and leave before my _friends_ help you leave." Draco said menacingly. The musclebound lumps cracked their knuckles at him.

"There's no need for name-calling you foul puddle of squib piss. Now, let's try this again like civilized people. I am Neville Longbottom, pureblood and heir to the Longbottom family fortune. I presume that from the way you dress and talk you are from one of the older, more prestigious families. Perhaps the Notts, Blacks or Malfoys. As I met the Nott family heir on my way here, and I haven't heard of anything new coming from the Black family since Sirius was thrown into Azkaban. Therefore, you must be a Malfoy. Due to your obvious access to the fortune, I would assume you to be from the main branch. Would you by any chance be the son of Lucius and Narcissa? Draco Malfoy?"

At Draco's thunderstruck look, Neville cheered. "He shoots, he scores! Ten points to Slytherin!"

Draco regained his composure. "Slytherin? I was under the impression that there hasn't been a Longbottom outside of Gryffindor in generations."

"Things change." Neville replied with an impish grin which Draco shared.

"So where'd you learn to do the thing where you pick up your trunk like that?" Draco asked, earlier hostilities forgotten.

"I have a friend who is completely mad. He actually _wants_ to be a Hufflepuff, if you can imagine. Still, he's pretty handy with a wand, and knows how to do things without getting caught." Neville answered mysteriously. "It's only first year work. We should get to it fairly early. It teaches you how to do it in the Standard Book of Spells. Page 23 if I recall..."

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**Mandy & Terry's Compartments**

**The Hogwarts Express**

**September 1st, 1991**

Hermione cautiously slid open the door to the compartment containing Terry Boot and Mandy Brocklehurst. Both of the future Ravenclaws had their noses buried in books and were occasionally murmuring a sentence to the other but otherwise were silent.

"Thank god, people who are sane!" Hermione said in a relieved voice. "Is there space for one more?"

"Sure." Terry said, not lifting his head from his book.

"Thanks." Hermione said, lifting her trunk onto the rack. "I'm Hermione by the way. Hermione Granger."

"Mandy Brocklehurst." Mandy said, she was reading what looked to be the Standard Book of Spells.

"Terry Boot." Terry added. He was immersed in Hogwarts: a History.

"Nice to meet you... It's good to see some people who aren't those crazy purebloods... honestly, I wanted to hex them."

Terry and Mandy looked up from their respective books. "You can cast hexes?" Terry inquired.

Hermione looked bashful. "I read up on Magical law and discovered a loophole in the law designed to benefit Purebloods. Apparently the Restriction on Underage Magic doesn't apply until you've been to school. Since you haven't been taught, they assume you don't know how to cast anything and since you're not allowed to purchase a wand until you've been accepted into a magical school-"

"-Then purebloods can just sit home and practice with a family wand for years without getting in trouble while muggleborns can't even start to practice until they have their Hogwarts letter." Mandy finished for her.

"Wow. I wish I'd known about that. I'd at least have gotten a few spells down before I came." Terry added.

"So, what hex would you have used?" Mandy asked, bookmarking her textbook and setting it aside.

"Well there's this thing called the Bat-Bogey hex. It's exactly what it sounds like. The target gets covered in big flapping gobs of bat boogers. Really disgusting and hurts a lot from what I've heard." Hermione explained.

"Nice!" Terry exclaimed. Unlike Mandy, the mousy boy had been unwilling to relinquish his book just yet.

"So, can you help us learn the spells that you know so far? We're going to have to work at it if we want to keep up. The Purebloods have several years of a head start on us." Mandy inquired.

"Certainly." Hermione said, drawing her wand. "This one's the simplest. It's called _Lumos._"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

**Ernie & Hannah's cabin**

**The Hogwarts Express**

**September 1st, 1991**

"Room for another?" Harry asked, after he opened the door.

"The more the merrier." Ernie invited cheerfully. "I'm Ernie Macmillan."

"I'm Hannah Abbot." Hannah added. "And you are?"

"Oh, I'm Harry Potter." Harry replied, setting his trunk on the rack. As usual, the two soon-to-be Hufflepuffs wore identical thunderstruck facial expressions.

"Are you really?" Ernie asked. He was the quickest to recover. Harry lifted up his bangs to show his scar.

"This thing is bloody amazing. There's not much funnier than watching people stare at a cut on your forehead." Ernie nodded numbly in agreement. Already he was becoming a loyal follower. It was almost too easy.

The cabin door opened a moment later. "Hi. Room for a fourth?" A relatively tall dark-haired boy was hanging in the door.

"Of course." Harry invited.

"Sweet." the other said. Harry helped him with his trunk and he took the seat next to Ernie. "I'm Justin by the way. Justin Finch-Fletchley."

"I'm Harry Potter. This is Ernie MacMillan and Hannah Abbot." Harry introduced them all.

"So, what house do you think you'll be in?" Justin asked.

"Well, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sound nice... but I really want to be a Hufflepuff!" Harry responded excitedly.

"You what?" Ernie asked.

"I want to be a Hufflepuff." Harry repeated.

"Harry, my family has been in Hufflepuff for the last six generations and we still don't _want_ to be in Hufflepuff. It's the house that gets the other house's cast offs. The people who didn't meet the requirements of any of the other houses."

Harry grinned like the cat that got the canary. "Actually, you're completely wrong. Hufflepuff as you might notice, gets the least number of students every year and has since its founding. There just aren't enough people that meet the minimum requirement to get in. The problem is the lack of a real testing method to show what it is that Hufflepuffs have that the other houses don't. It can't be measured by an academic aptitude test or a duel. Loyalty isn't something that can be quantified. Hard work isn't something that everyone notices unless they're looking for it. These are the people who go out of their way to help people. Not because it's expected of them, but because they want to do it. Hufflepuffs make the world go round."

Harry half expected one of the other three to start snickering halfway through his tirade. To his surprise, all three were hanging on to his every word. Harry continued knowing that now was the time for the finishing blow. The hook, line and sinker that turned all three of them into loyal believers in both him and the strength of Hufflepuff house.

"Now, the reason Hufflepuff has fallen so far behind in standings is because of the inherent flaw in the sorting. Because the hat isn't looking for any other traits, it sorts the student based entirely on that one unquantifiable Hufflepuff characteristic. As a result you get a whole lot of different kinds of people in that house. Everyone from Uric the Oddball all the way down to Albus Dumbledore himself. Very different people. Very important. Both were Hufflepuffs. Now, because there are all these different types of people in one place, it makes it hard for them to unify under one rule. As such, one of the very characteristics that Hufflepuff is prided for- hard work that is- is being undermined by the inability to find common ground. Most of the time the people in Hufflepuff find friends in other houses because their personality gravitates toward them. There will be the brave fierce Hufflepuffs who hang out with Gryffindors, and the bright Hufflepuffs who are friends mostly with Ravenclaws. Some will be sly and crafty, hanging out with Slytherins and some will find themselves drawn to two or more other houses." Harry paused for breath.

"It makes you wonder what happens when the house actually rallies together under one person. What the house actually does when motivated in one particular direction. The answer is: it becomes the most powerful, unstoppable house in the school. Like a hive of bees, the house strides into action and wins the house cup every year that great leader is there. Then, a few years after their eight or nine year reign of glory, it falls apart again. The house lays dormant waiting for its next leader. Now, I don't expect you to take all this on faith. I have proof in the school records..."

Harry showed them the notes he made during his research a few months ago regarding the large periods of time that Hufflepuff won the cup. Then, Ernie asked the million dollar question. "So, I take it you want to be this leader that leads Hufflepuff to greatness?"

Harry looked bashful. "Well, it sounds good and all, but I doubt it'd work."

"Of course it won't." Hannah piped up.

"Why not?" Harry inquired.

"Because, all this research and stuff you did. You'll probably end up in Ravenclaw!"she finished with glee. The compartment descended into laughter. Harry scowled.

"Witty and with a silver tongue... If I'm a Ravenclaw, you're a shoe-in for Slytherin!"Harry retorted.

More laughter. All too soon, they had to pull on their robes as they pulled into Hogsmeade Station.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

**The edge of Hogwarts Lake**

**Hogwarts Castle**

**September 1st, 1991**

_'So, how'd it go?' _Hermione thought to the others

_'Quite well. Ernie, Hannah and Justin are all new friends.'_ Harry responded.

_'What happened with Ron?'_ Hermione asked.

Harry winced _'I panicked. Had to bail. I'll have to talk to him some other time. How about you, Neville?'_

_'Couldn't be better. He's already distancing himself from his goons if you can believe it. Care to make a show of inter-house friendships right about now?'_

_'Certainly.'_ Harry answered. _'Why don't we all move our groups collectively towards the boats?'_

_'Sounds good.'_ Neville affirmed.

"Over there I see the friends I told you guys about." Harry said to the three future Hufflepuffs that were behind him. "Let's go say hi."

"Why'd you split up?" Hannah asked. "I mean, if you're friends, then why hang out with other people?"

"Because we all have different personalities. We're likely to end up in completely different houses and didn't want to get to school and not know anyone in our houses of choice." Harry answered.

"-my lunatic friend I was telling you about. Whatever you do, don't start an argument with him, he'll win every time. Hey Harry!" Neville said, turning his focus from Draco to Harry."Draco, this is my friend Harry Potter. Harry, meet Draco Malfoy." Draco's eyebrows shot up like rockets but somehow he kept from staring for Harry's scar. Harry was impressed.

"Hi." Harry greeted, extending a hand for Draco to shake. Draco hesitated.

"That Hufflepuff obsession you have... it's not contagious is it?" Draco asked. Clearly Neville had been having fun in their conversations on the train.

"Of course not. Join usssss Draco. You know you want to." Harry hissed. They all laughed. Including Draco, surprisingly enough. He took Harry's hand and shook it.

"Oh, hey. There's Hermione." Harry said. "Hermione, over here!"

Hermione came over and a full circle of introductions happened. Draco restrained himself on commenting about blood. Harry played the peaceful negotiator, and while neither the ravenclaws nor the Slytherins were particularly interested in becoming friends with the Hufflepuffs, they all seemed to like Harry. Their plan was working. Pretty soon, Hagrid came over and ushered them into their boats. They stayed in the same groups they'd started in, and they made their way across the lake towards Hogwarts.

"Why didn't you tell me you were friends with THE Harry Potter?" Draco demanded.

"I wanted it to be a surprise." He responded. Harry had heard them and smirked from his seat two boats over.

This year would be so much better than the last time they were here. Especially with Quirrell no longer possessed.

One by one, the boats pulled up to the dock where Hagrid informed them they were running slightly late and that the sorting was about to start. Wordlessly, they followed the half-giant into the school.


	21. Chapter 20

A/n: And so, here we are. Almost a year since my previous update. Sorry everyone. I'll try and make this chapter nice and beefy to make up for it.

**Chapter Twenty**

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The Great Hall

Hogwarts

8:07pm, September 1st, 1991

Harry sat in line, numbly waiting his turn to be sorted. Joy filled him as he watched former friends and acquaintances get sorted exactly where he remembered them going last time. Still, it was eerie watching something happen that you'd already seen once before.

Names went by. He watched Hermione sit down on the stool. As the hat slid over her eyes, he saw her smirk. Thirty seconds later, the hat announced "Ravenclaw!" Hermione made her way over to the Ravenclaw table amidst polite applause.

Names went by. Neville and Draco both went to Slytherin, pounding eachother's fists as Draco took a seat next to Neville. A few more names and then...

"Potter, Harry." Professor McGonnagall read from the list. Harry thought she was eyeing him quite nervously. Harry raised his eyebrows at her and she took a step backward in shock. Harry took his seat on the stool and placed the hat on his head.

"Oh my!" the hat said "How very interesting. We don't get too many time travelers. Last one must've been around six... thirteen eighty-seven it was. Droculious the Dense. Bit of a dumb one he was. Didn't get out of Hogwarts until he was twenty-two. Stole a time machine and used some de-aging potion to look eleven again. Went back through Hogwarts as a prodigy and went on to be Minister of Magic. But where were we? Ah, yes. Sorting. Right. Well, it says here you want to be in Hufflepuff. I suppose I'd better go along with it unless I want to see you traveling through time and doing it again."

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat called. The puffers cheered fanatically while the rest of the hall just looked perplexed. Should they be celebrating? I mean, Harry Potter the Hufflepuff didn't really make that much sense.

Harry took a seat between Ernie and Hannah. "See, dreams do come true." Harry said cheekily.

Ernie snorted. After the last name was called and Blaise Zabini was sorted into Slytherin, Dumbledore stood.

"Before we start eating, I have a few short words I would like to share with you. Nitwit. Blubber. Oddment. Tweak. Tuck in."

As Dumbledore said "tuck in" the plates piled high with delicious Hogwarts cooking.

Harry ate just enough to feel sleepy and content, which was more than he could say for Justin Finch-Fletchley. The Hufflepuff in question was slumped sideways and leaning on Susan Bones, moaning about how he'd eaten too much. Susan acted as if she hadn't noticed Justin. Harry wasn't sure if she was ignoring him or just didn't care.

Harry barely listened to Dumbledore's speech after the meal, deciding to practice a few of his animagus exercises instead. Inside his shoes, Harry was shrinking and lengthening his toes and toenails. Harry found he'd been doing that a lot lately. Whenever he didn't feel like paying attention or just had nothing top do, he would do some minor exercises to pass the time. It was like popping your knuckles or biting your nails, except it was productive.

"-the dormitories." Dumbledore finished. Harry transformed his feet back to normal and stood, just as a Hufflepuff prefect (a freckled big-eared guy named Tucker) started calling to the first years and asking them to follow him.

As it turned out, the Hufflepuff dorms weren't too far from the entrance hall. The entrance was hidden behind a still life painting involving a few chairs surrounding a small table. Very bland.

Harry suspected that they were actually down near the dungeons as they'd gone down a few flights of stairs but the warm, cozy feel of the corridor led him to believe otherwise.

Harry filed in through the door, and Hannah shut it behind him as she was the last in line. It seemed everyone had filed in to the room had stood in a circle, with the prefects in the center.

"Is that everyone?" Tucker asked, looking about for confirmation. With no objections, he continued. "Good. As you may know, I'm your seventh year prefect, Tucker Hills. I-" He paused because someone raised her hand. "Yes, Jennifer?"

"Can we use your nickname? I think it's cute." Jennifer said, a slight blush coming to her cheeks.

Tucker's shoulders sagged a little and he sighed. "Yes, that's fine. Some of you may know me as King Tuck. It's short for King Tuckhenkhamen. If you would prefer to call me by that you are welcome to."

"All the prefects get nicknames." The other seventh year prefect said. "My name is Sally Jones but you are all welcome to call me Salexander the Great."

Harry and several others laughed at that. "That's actually part of the reason we're all here tonight. At the end of last year we said bye to last year's seventh year prefects and welcomed in the new fifth year prefects Randy and Francine Campbell." There was polite applause as Randy and Francine stepped forward. It was obvious that they were twins and both had pale skin and curly red hair. Because Francine hadn't really developed any curves and Randy wasn't very tall, they were even more identical than twins their age should look.

"So, I know it's late, but it's tradition. We'll try not to keep you up too long." Sally added. "So, why don't we take a minute to think up nicknames for these two and after that, the rest of us prefects will step back and let the fifth year prefects run yo through a name game and an icebreaker.

"What about calling them both Frandy, since they're like the same person." One student suggested.

"Yeah, but if one of them gets a different haircut or they grow a little it won't be funny anymore." Another replied.

There was a lull for about a minute when Harry raised his hand. "I've got an idea."

"Do you?" Tucker asked. "Let's hear it."

"Raggedy Fran and Raggedy Randy." Harry answered.

Chuckles went around the circle. "That's cute." Sally said. "I like it. Any objections?"

Nobody objected. "All right Raggedy Fran and Raggedy Randy. They're all yours." Sally said.

"Hi guys!" Fran said cheerfully. "Two things and then we'll go around and learn names."

"FIRstly I wOULD-" Randy started but was cut off by laughter. Randy's voice was just changing and it would squeak like a mouse before going deep and low every other word.

Randy cleared his throat a few times and continued, this time his voice remained steady."Anyway, um. We need to introduce the sixth year prefects Matilda Kirkland AKA Matilda the Hun and John Perry AKA Genghis John."

"And the second thing, for those of you who weren't close enough to the portrait to hear, the password is _eternal happiness_." Fran said. "Now why don't we go around the circle and say our name and area of magic we're most interested in.

The circle went around. Harry mentioned Abjuration as his branch of magic.

"So, which icebreaker were we going to do again?" Fran asked Randy

"The ninja game!" Randy insisted

"But you can't play that outside of a pool." Fran responded.

"Sure you can."

"No you can't cause half the game involves splashing. And you can't do 'chop chop the ice'. Besides I don't know seventy different signs for everyone to do." Fran finished.

"Fine. Big wind blows?"

"Sure."

"Ok, the rules are simple. One of us stands in the middle and says 'A big wind blows for...' and then says something that they have done or that applies to them. Everyone that it applies to has to run across the circle and find a spot. The last person without a spot asks the question for the next round." Randy described. As he spoke the other prefects squeezed into the circle, leaving him alone in the center. "So, here we go. A big wind blows for anyone who has ever used a portkey."

Most of the circle scattered, searching frantically for new places. Justin tried valiantly to find a new place in the ring, but Randy beat him to the spot. Justin gritted his teeth, before making a devious smile that Harry hadn't known the normally good natured Hufflepuff possessed. Justin walked up to Randy, clearly indicating that his next 'big wind' was intended directly for Randy.

"A big wind blows for anyone who has stood in the center of the circle and said 'a big wind blows' in this game." Randy ran forward to get a new spot only to discover he was the only person who had left their spot. Justin stepped slowly into Randy's recently vacated spot leaving Randy alone in the center.

The game went on for about ten more minutes before the prefects called it to a stop.

"All right guys. That's pretty much it for the night. First years stay here for a few minutes so we can go over ground rules and some of the general things you should know about being a student and a Hufflepuff. Fran made a nice poster with our general rules and hung it over the fireplace if anyone needs a refresher. Everyojne who doesn't need a rules refresher should probably get on into bed. Early start tomorrow. Goodnight everyone!" Randy announced.

"Goodnight Raggedy Randy!" quite a few voices chorused back.

The older Hufflepuffs gathered in a group hug and then filed out of the room. Randy and Fran beckoned the first years over to a large round table in the corner of the common room and gestured for them to sit. Harry took a seat between Hannah and Susan. Ernie and Justin sat on the other sides of the two girls. Once they settled, Fran spoke.

"Ok, first things first." Fran said. "We've got a rulebook here for each of you. It isn't much, but it has some of the more common rules that you're likely to come across while you're here. Curfew times, no magic in the corridors. Mostly basic. Give those a glance when you get the time. Also, we tried to fill it with some helpful information that we wish we'd known in first year."

"It also has directions to all the places you might be looking for. The Hospital wing, all the classrooms, the teachers offices and what their office hours are. It doesn't have a map unfortunately. Hogwarts is unplottable making it notoriously hard to map. Don't worry, the directions are really well written." Randy added.

"In addition to the office hours it also tells you a little bit about each professor and the subjects they're teaching." Fran continued. "It's also got a few of the more handy secret passages listed. And umm... what else?" The question was directed towards Randy.

"The spell tips." He replied.

"Right. There's a whole section in there about spells. It teaches a few handy spells that are really easy to learn. Everyone just seems to assume you know how to cast them, and many muggleborns and half bloods come in at a severe disadvantage because of it. I remember my first potions class. Everyone knew how to light the little flames under the cauldron except us. The look Professor Snape gave me... I wasn't able to even look at him for three years after that." Fran confessed.

"All the spells have a citation at the bottom of their instructions telling you what textbook they came from so you can find other handy spells." Randy piped in.

"Yeah. That's pretty much it for the guide. I just want to add that you should probably look into the spellbooks that the guide mentions. It's impossible to make it past even the first semester without having to go to the library and looking through piles of books before you find the one little detail you need for a potions essay or whatever. You might as well get used to research now because you're going to need it. So... if you guys don't have any questions about the guide I'll turn you over to Randy."

Nobody responded, so after a few seconds Randy took over.

"Okay guys. My job is to talk to you guys about what it means to be a Hufflepuff. In other houses, the students have petty squabbles, rivalries and even fights. Always trying to establish dominance, always trying to see where they fit in the chain of command. We don't do that and we don't tolerate it. The other houses treat us as inferior and as far as they're concerned, we are. We don't do any of that here in Hufflepuff. With the other houses the way they are, we all need to stand together. Slytherins will bully you. Gryffindors will tease you. Ravenclaws will look down their noses at you. While there will be a few decent people in each of the other houses, most of them won't bother to stick out their neck for you if you get into trouble. A Hufflepuff will. We're required to. If you see a puffer in need, you **will** stop and help them out. If it's desperate enough, instead of stopping you can run to a teacher or more Puffers but that's the only exception. We have a code word we use for whenever one of our own is in danger. When you hear it, drop what you are doing and help out. We would all do the same for you. That word we use is 'Bluebriar'." Randy paused letting it all sit in. He'd done a remarkable job of keeping his voice from squeaking. It helped impress on the first years how serious he was being.

"We also have punishments for those who don't help out. You don't want it to come to that." Randy finished.

"Also, we have conflict resolution sessions available. If you have a problem with another Hufflepuff's words or actions, you can bring your grievance to us and we will gather all the people involved and discuss all sides and feelings of the issue until there is peace. It fixes the problem better than punishment and keeps us from losing house points." Fran added once Randy's words had sunk in.

"Well, that's that. If you guys need anything, feel free to talk to us or one of the other prefects. You are allowed to knock on our doors at any time. We have rooms to ourselves at the end of the hall. If there's any problem, no matter how small, please let us know. We'll help however we can." Randy said with a smile.

"Any questions?" Fran asked. She waited maybe two seconds. "Didn't think so. We have a few traditions to tell you about before we go up. The first is: every group meeting ends with a group hug. It's simple and it feels good. The second is: every night at lights out the girls and the guys wish eachother goodnight. When the lights flicker three times that's the guys signal and they call 'Goodnight lovely ladies of Hufflepuff.'. The Women then respond with 'Sleep tight marvelous men of Hufflepuff.'. So, we'll show you to your rooms and give you fifteen minutes to unpack a bit. When the lights go, you know what to do."

"OK, everybody up." Randy said. "Group hug!"

Everyone moved to the center of the room and gathered in a large group hug. Harry was surprised at how much he had enjoyed it, and was reluctant to let it end. Harry and the Hufflepuff first year boys followed Randy down a short corridor attached to the common room. Randy led them to a round wooden door shaped like a barrel top. The words "first year" were carved into it. Harry found his way to his bunk and flopped onto it. While the room was much more plain than the Gryffindor beds, it felt more comfortable. Harry undressed and slipped under the yellow and black sheets of his new bed.

A few minutes later the lights flickered. "Goodnight lovely ladies of Hufflepuff!" Harry called. His voice was lost in a unified storm of others saying the same words.

"Sleep tight, marvelous men of Hufflepuff!" came ringing back. Harry smiled contentedly and slipped into blissful sleep.

--

A/n: Ok all. I know this took awhile. I hope you forgive me. This year at college has been a trying one. I'm trying to major in chemistry and several of the classes beat me flat. I stayed off of academic probation, but it was a close call, cause I failed Calculus 2. I hope to get more writing done this summer and to actually write more next year at school.

Until later,

Neopyro


	22. Chapter 21

A/n: WOW! I hadn't realized I was missed. Thanks guys. When you get 30+ reviews in 12 hours you must've done something right. Anyway there were a lot of questions and comments about how hufflepuff house worked and admiration of the idea. So many that instead of replying to the reviews I'm making an Author's note of it.

Someone got it mostly right and guessed that they were like "those creepy camp councilors you see in movies". Not quite. They are based on camp councilors I've had over the years of attending summer camp. The first time I saw someone acting like them, I thought it was creepy. How can they smile like that? Do they have their own interests or do they really only care about helping people? The idea came to me as I thought about the quality of students in Hufflepuff. How many muggleborns that know next to nothing about magic get sorted in? Thinking about it, with the exception of Ernie Macmillan and Susan Bones, the entire first year is made up of half-bloods and muggleborns. That's 80 percent of the house knowing next to nothing about magic. That said, I figured Hufflepuff had to have some special way of dealing with it.. This is what I came up with.

I think I covered most of the questions that were asked. So, on with the story.

**Too Much Time on My Hands**

**Chapter Twenty-One**

--

**??**

Ginny's eyes opened to see whirling clouds of purples, pinks and blues. Not clouds. The sky and everything around her were filled with dancing technicolored lights. Like a screensaver gone wrong, and she was laying down in the middle of it. She sat up and pulled herself to her feet. She must have stood too quickly because she was dizzy. She made the mistake of looking down and saw the same purple, pink and blue craziness was uniform in all directions. She couldn't tell up from down. She fell back into a sitting position, disoriented. The ground below her felt firm... she could just see straight through it.

"Am I dead?" she asked aloud.

--

**Charms Classroom**

**7:48am September 2nd, 1991**

Harry collapsed into a desk in the second row. He was the first one there. Partially because he already knew the way and partially because he'd actually gotten up early enough.

He'd managed to catch Neville and Hermione before breakfast just to see how their first day had been. They had both enjoyed themselves in their respective houses. It wasn't really much of a talking point as they'd only just gotten there the night before.

A few minutes later Hannah and Ernie came in, taking seats on either side of Harry. Harry murmured half-awake greetings to both of them and received the same in return.

Harry had been trying to think of something before they'd arrived, but he'd forgotten it once they arrived. He knew it was fairly urgent too. A decision he needed to make, perhaps.

The rest of the class poured into the room with less than three minutes before it was due to start and they were soon joined by professor Flitwick.

Harry tuned out Professor Flitwick's lecture for the most part. It was just levitation. Harry knew that he would have to be careful or else he would levitate his desk along with the feather. Still... an early display of power wouldn't go amiss. He thought for a moment... 'what the hell. It's worth a shot.'

"...wants to try, please do." Professor Flitwick finished.

Harry waited for the first few students to fail in their attempt so that his would seem just that more impressive. Harry coughed twice, clearing his throat and loudly intoned "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Harry's feather rose into the air, slowly. It was followed by the desks nearest his, several textbooks and bookbags, as well as Flitwick's little tower of books that he stood upon, and the diminutive professor himself. Slowly, the levitating objects approached the ceiling. The room watched in stunned silence. Professor Flitwick was the first to regain his senses.

"Well done mister Potter. Forty points to Hufflepuff. Fifty if you can set everything down gently." Flitwick enthused from near the ceiling.

Harry set everything back gently by adding a modified banishing charm to his spell. Flitwick straightened his hat on his tower of books as most of the room sat, openly gawking at him. Even Flitwick looked flustered.

"Yes, yes. Masterfully done Mister Potter. Take the full fifty points, and please stay for a moment after class." Despite having fully recovered from the disorientation of being levitated, Flitwick looked dazed. He blinked a few times and returned to his usual cheery self.

The rest of the class was a lot more boring than Harry remembered it. Without the Gryffindors present, none of the feathers exploded. Hermione wasn't much of a know-it-all anymore and wasn't correcting anyone. Then again, half the class was made up of Ravenclaws and most of them didn't need much correction.

The bell rang and Harry stayed behind as requested, promising Hannah and Ernie that he would catch up to them at potions.

Soon, they were alone. "I'm impressed, Harry." Flitwick squeaked. "That was far more advanced charm work than I suspect from any of my first ears. In fact, it's far more than I would expect from most of my sixth years." He added with a wink.

Harry flushed. He knew that he had a massively unfair advantage over the other students, but even so the praise touched him. He was also a bit embarassed as he hadn't intended to put nearly as much power as he had in the spell.

"If you are showing this much promise in your first class, it is likely that you will be bored in this class. The work will be far too easy for your skills. You need to be moved into a more advanced class, but I can't move you up without your approval. I also would need to speak to the Headmaster about it, but that shouldn't be a problem. I just need to have you write me a note and sign it. "

"Anything special on the note, sir?" Harry inquired.

"'Just I authorize Professor Flitwick to advance me to whatever level of Charms class he sees fit' or some such. Nothing scary."

"Right." Harry said, getting out a quill, ink and some parchment. He began to write. There was silence for a few moments, interrupted only by the scratching of Harry's quill.

"I assume you had a tutor over the summer to get you this far?" Flitwick inquired.

"Yes sir." Harry responded, slightly wary. While perfectly legal, it was still a fairly uncommon and frowned upon practice for a child not yet of Hogwarts age to have a tutor.

"I suspected as much. Would you mind telling me who it was?"

"He won't gt in trouble will he, sir?"

"No. This is just professional curiosity." Flitwick replied.

"It was Professor Quirrel, sir." Harry answered. "Here you go." Harry handed Flitwick his finished note.

"Thank you, Harry. I will get this to the Headmaster at my earliest opportunity. Off you go. I don't want you late to potions on my account."

"Thanks, Professor!" Harry called over his shoulder as he ran off towards potions.

--

With the aid of a few secret passages, Harry made it to potions three minutes before the start of class. He took a seat next to Justin as Ernie was sitting with Hannah and pulled his books out of his bag.

"What'd Flitwick want to talk to you about?" Justin asked.

"He wanted to bump me up to a more advanced charms class. I gave him the OK on it."Harry replied.

"Congrats."

"Thanks."

Just then, Snape came storming into the dungeon, robes billowing out behind him like a cape. He looked even shorter on patience than usual.

"Wands away. Books out. This is a simple assessment of your skills. I will be basing the difficulty of this years class on the number of you that successfully complete this assignment. " He waved his wand at the board and the chalk sprang up and began writing. " If you have any questions, raise your hand and wait to be called upon. Ten points will be given to the student who completes the potion to my standards the fastest. Ten points will also be given to the maker of the highest quality potion in the classroom. The ingredients are in the student cupboard. You may begin." At the word "begin", the fires under each of the cauldrons ignited and the student cupboard sprang open.

Harry read the directions on the board twice. It was a standard cleaning solution, not much more harmful than lye soap or a mild acid. It was used for scrubbing grime and filth off of floors and walls. Harry vaguely wondered if he was having the first years do something he'd been asked to do (presumably by Filch).

After reading the directions on the board, he gathered the ingredients from the student cupboard and opened his assigned textbook to the Scouring solution they were supposed to be making. The directions were word-for-word the same as the textbook. Harry closed the book and opened a different potions text (one he'd brought from home) and proceeded to look for the solution.

"Potter!" Snape snapped. Harry jumped slightly. He hadn't heard him approach. "What do we have here? Reading in class?" Snape wordlessly and wandlessly summoned the book from Harry.

"It's a potions reference guide." Harry stated calmly. "From one of the most notable workers in the field. There are a few problems with the school text that this author corrects in his-"

"I do not want students believing they can learn potions from any old crackpot who writes a book!" Snape growled, slamming the textbook shut. "Ten points from-"

And Snape stopped, mid-sentence. Harry was half afraid that Snape had a heart attack. He was just sitting there, staring at the cover. He was speechless, and it took him a full ten seconds to regain the ability to speak.

"You have read this, Potter?" Snape asked

"Twice, sir." Harry replied. "It's remarkably helpful."

"And you were using this instead of the required text because...?" Snape pressed.

"I remember something about the scouring solution coming out too clumpy unless you added a small amount of Skrewt's Ichor to it but I couldn't remember how much sir."

"Five millileters, Potter." Snape answered his unasked question. "Would you by any chance know _why_ one needs to add Skrewt's Ichor to a scouring solution?"

"Yes sir. Skrewt's Ichor acts like an acid (by breaking apart clumps in the solution an dissolving them) except for one thing. It doesn't alter the pH of the solution." Harry finished.

"And why can't one simply add a weak acid?" Snape queried

"Because the scouring solution is basic, sir. The addition of an acid would decrease the potency of the potion and perhaps neutralize the alkalinity completely." Harry responded.

Snape caught his eyes. Harry knew instantly that he was going to use legillimency and hastily lowered his shields, except those he kept around his secrets. He allowed general thoughts to flow to the front of his mind, and waited.

Three seconds passed before Snape withdrew his probe. "It would seem" Snape started. "That I am in error." Snape levitated the book back to Harry's desk. "See to it that you are this prepared for every class and you will go far in this subject, Potter." He turned and walked back to his desk. Almost as an afterthought, he added "Five points to Hufflepuff."

Harry wished he could cheer. Snape had rarely given anyone outside of Slytherin points, even when deserved. But Harry knew that even rarer were his compliments. Trying not to grin, he turned back to his potion.

His hand briefly rested on the cover of his textbook as he worked. Above his fingers in flowing gold letters were the words "_Putting a Stopper in Death: a guide to potions that may save your life."_ Below it, in the same script, it said: "_Written by Professor Severus Salazar Snape P.M."_

Despite the interruptions, Harry received the ten points for the first completed potion and the additional ten points for highest quality.

--

**Snape's Office**

**11:45am September 2nd, 1991**

'I never thought I would see one of those damned things again.' Snape thought .Snape ran his hands through his hair, holding his head as the memories came rushing back.

After his thesis, he was awarded a Potions mastery (with honors) from one of the most prestigious magical universities in the world. The world was his oyster. He was offered dozens of jobs, some of which paying over a hundred thousand galleons per year. He took one of them. A research position for Boldwand Industries. The world's largest medical potion producer. He had his own lab and three assistants.

Three months in, he was approached by a publishing firm, asking him to write a book on potions and recipes. He accepted that offer as well. With no social life to speak of, he poured himself into his work. His days at work, experimenting and his nights at home, writing. Those were some of the best times of his life.

At last, his book was completed and published. He thought it was a masterpiece. He'd compiled a list of three hundred of the world's most useful potions, and worked with their recipes. He tweaked them and streamlined them down to perfection. Burn salves that could be made for only five sickles by using more common ingredients. Pepper-up potions that worked twice as well as the industry standard that cost half as much to produce. He poured his **soul** into that book, and at first it was worth it. It sold like crazy.

Then it all came crashing down. The potions companies were furious. Several things in the book were closely guarded industry secrets that allowed them to greatly overcharge the common wizard and reap huge profits. When it was revealed that bruise healing potion could be made for three sickles instead of the ten galleons that the stores were charging, there were huge profits to be lost.

In short, they all went after him. He was fired from his job, and the companies sued him for everything. The profits from the book, all that he made at his job and most of his family fortune were gone. All he'd managed to keep was the house at Spinner's End.

After that, his name was blacklisted. No respectable company would hire Severus Snape. Especially with the economy hopping into the pits because of Voldemort.

He started to drink...

'Enough!' Snape thought. He abandoned his office and stalked off to lunch.

--

**The Hufflepuff Common Room**

**11:30AM, September 17th, 1991**

Harry's skilled performance carried over into every class he took, impressing the teachers as he went. Defence Against the Dark Arts involved Harry becoming Quirrell's test dummy at the front of the class, demonstrating jinxes and counters for those various jinxes.

In Transfiguration, Harry got bored with turning a matchstick into a needle and back and instead started transfiguring it into other things.

Harry realized that the entire class had gone silent and was gawking at him a little bit after turning the boa constrictor on his disk (originally a match) into a full length broadsword and finally back into a matchstick.

History involved Harry getting into a heated debate with Professor Binns which Harry won. It led to Binns canceling the rest of class in order to revise his lesson plans and do a bit more research. Binns had since been reduced to teaching instead of droning on while everyone slept. Binns resented it, as did several of the lazier students.

Rumors about Harry's magical prowess abounded and swarmed across the school. Without quite intending it, Harry had managed to become more popular than his time as a Triwizard Champion.

Unfortunately, most of it was the type of fame he ended up with during the height of the Chamber of Secrets attacks in his second year. Rumors about his power ranged from him beating Voldemort as an infant and absorbing his powers to Harry actually being Voldemort, disguised as a hero. To make matters worse, Harry had been seen speaking to Townofaah and now everyone knew he was a Parselmouth.

All in all, Harry preferred staying in his room to going out. At least the Hufflepuffs were doing a fair job of standing by him. Hannah, surprising everyone, had caused a horde of rumormongers to back away in a hurry. After days of being crowded and asked about Harry's "dark powers" she had snapped.

"For the love of Merlin's saggy left nut, people!" she yelled. "You all know perfectly good and well that V-V-V... You-Know-Who would rather kiss a Muggle than be a Hufflepuff at Hogwarts!"

She'd been red in the face and panting after her short outburst. "Sorry..." she bashfully apologized to Harry, Ernie and Justin. "I'm afraid of crowds... They make me nervous."

Harry's thoughts were interrupted by a tawny brown school owl flying in through his open window with a small scrap of paper in its talons. The owl landed gracefully on a bedpost and extended the talon with the letter. Harry took the offered scrap of paper and read it.

"_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_Several of your professors have informed me of their desire to advance you to a more difficult class level than the one you currently attend. I would like to schedule a meeting to discuss this with you before I make a decision one way or the other. I was hoping we could meet this evening after dinner. Send me a reply via this owl to let me know if this is acceptable._

_ -Headmaster Albus P.W.B Dumbledore."_

Harry grabbed a quill, ink and a scrap of parchment.

"_Dear Headmaster Dumbledore,_

_After dinner would be perfectly fine for me. Where would I be meeting you?_

_ -Harry"_

Harry watched the owl fly away with the scrap of paper. A few moments later, it returned with a response.

"_My office is on the first floor, guarded by a pair of Gargoyles. Meet me there once dinner is dismissed. The password is Gummy Bear._

_-A.D."_

Harry read the note and tossed it into the trash before returning to his book.

--

**Dumbledore's Office**

**11:48AM, September 17th, 1991**

Dumbledore rose from his seat at his desk. Now that he was done with that he had other matters to attend to. He strode across the room, headed for the stairs. HE stopped, halfway there as something caught his eye. On his bookshelf, he saw the lightbulb, note still attached, that he'd received from a mysterious time traveler who knew how long ago. On a whim, he approached the shelf and re-read the note.

Then he blinked, shocked. The handwriting... Albus reached into his pocket and retrieved the note Harry had just sent him. He carefully compared the two. A few diagnostic spells confirmed his suspicion. The handwriting was identical. Whomever wrote the first note wrote the second one.

Albus set his jaw firmly. He had much more to speak with Harry about than he'd first imagined.

--


	23. Chapter 22

**Too Much Time On My Hands**

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

--

**??**

Ginny's words echoed through the pink, purple and blue swirls for nearly thirty seconds, reverberating through the air for far longer than physics would allow.

Ginny decided that speech was a very bad idea, and would likely lead to a severe headache. She sat back down. She admired the dancing lights. She squinted. The lights further away were... wrong. Different than they were. And the disturbance causing it was approaching quickly.

Closer and closer the disturbance came. Ginny tensed in anticipation and fear. She was knocked flat by the force of the disturbance.

It turned out to be a wave of sound, and the single word answer to her question. The word "NO!" rang in her head for several minutes.

Bracing herself for the force of the Voice's response, she asked another question. "What is this place?"

--

**Albus Dumbledore's Office**

**7:33PM, September 17th, 1991**

Albus's teeth crunched down into his sixth lemon drop in the last two minutes. His shoulders were stiff and tense, raised higher than he usually kept them. His pointed wizards hat lay on its side atop his desk from where it had fallen from Albus's head. His head was bowed and rested in his hands, his elbows rested on his desk. Albus shifted slightly to snag his seventh lemon drop from his tray. For the first time since Voldemorts defeat a decade ago, Albus Dumbledore was nervous.

His mind had been chasing itself in circles all day, analyzing thousands of potential conversations with Harry. None of them seemed right.

Would he confront him about his time traveling? Bluff and pretend to know more about it than he did in hopes that it would loosen Harry's tongue? Subtly hint that he knew what was going on and hope for Harry to spill on his own? Play the conversation by ear and hope for the best?

He'd debated the merits of putting various potions into the tea and sugar, but he didn't want to anger a time-traveling wizard of unknown power. Both notes he'd been sent indicated that he was on the side of good and he didn't want to jeopardize that.

Albus had cast every handwriting identification spell he knew at least a dozen times. As he'd been a professor for the better part of a century, he knew quite a few spells in that category (to catch cheaters). Every source he had was screaming at him, saying "Harry Potter is the time traveler!"

And yet, Albus found himself doubting. Just because the handwriting matched didn't mean that the Harry Potter that was here was the same Harry Potter who wrote the note. There could very well be a hardened, older Harry Potter wandering around the world going by another name or in another form. Just the thought made him grind the lemon drop to dust between his teeth.

He needed more information and he needed it yesterday! The conversation he was about to have was to decide the fate of the world and he was completely unprepared. He was reaching for another lemon drop when he heard the staircase moving. He had less than thirty seconds until Harry arrived. He hastily fixed his messed up hair and replaced his wizard's cap and half-moon spectacles. He took a few seconds to reinforce his Occulmency and counting down the seconds, he called "Come in!" just as Harry was raising his fist to knock on the office door.

--

**Albus Dumbledore's Office**

**7:38PM, September 17th, 1991**

**(Harry POV)**

'How does he always know?' Harry asked himself, lowering his hand from its pre-knocking position to the doorknob. 'One of these days, I'll figure it out.' He opened the door and stepped inside.

"Good evening, Mr. Potter." Albus greeted him cheerfully. "We have much to discuss."

Harry agreed non-verbally. There wasn't really a need for him to actually speak. He took the offered seat and waited for the headmaster to start things off.

"Might I tempt you with a lemon drop?" Dumbledore asked, cheer and charm practically oozing off of his voice.

'His machinations weren't nearly this transparent last time.' Harry thought. 'Is this just age and experience allowing me to see right through him? Or is he acting differently because he's up to something?' Harry's speculation didn't stop him from responding with a quick "sure" and taking a lemon drop from the offered dish.

Dumbledore took one as well and they unwrapped them almost simultaneously. Harry took a great care to pop the treat into his mouth before Dumbledore did, however. He didn't want anything to arouse suspicion in the Headmaster. The three most likely people to cause foul-ups in his plans were Voldemort, Dumbledore and himself. He already had to deal with two of them. Harry wasn't up to tempting fate by adding the third element unless he had absolutely no other options.

They sat a moment, enjoying the lemon flavored candies. Dumbledore broke the silence first.

"As you likely know, a number of your professors have approached me with requests to advance you into a more challenging class. I would like to hear what you think about this before I make a decision."

"Yes sir." Harry replied. "I was wondering which classes would like to advance me, sir. I don't want to say yes to something and end up in advanced potions or something. Sir."

Dumbledore chuckled. "Awfully formal aren't we tonight, Mr. Potter? Relax. You aren't in trouble."

"Yes, sir." Harry agreed. He waited patiently for a few moments. "Umm...Sir?"

"Yes?" Albus queried.

"You still haven't answered my question, sir."

--

**Albus Dumbledore's Office**

**8:01PM, September 17th, 1991**

**(Dumbledore POV)**

'I must be mistaken!' Albus thought. 'He's just a child, scared of being in trouble with his Headmaster. He's a lot more polite than what I would expect of a child raised by Sirius...' Albus's brow furrowed.

'A child raised by Sirius... Acting extremely innocent. What has he done? I must remember to check the office for booby traps once he is gone. Still, this could be Remus's influence. Such a sweet boy...'

"Umm...Sir?"

--

**Albus Dumbledore's Office**

**8:03PM, September 17th, 1991**

**(Harry POV)**

"Right, right." Albus replied. "I have requests to advance you in both Charms and Transfiguration. Professor Binns also approached me but not to advance you. He's rather frustrated at how difficult you've made it to teach in recent weeks and wanted to remove you from his class altogether." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled merrily.

'How does he do that?' Harry wondered.

"All right, sir. Those were the classes I expected. I would be willing to advance in either or both of those classes, sir."

"But the question is, Harry, how far would you be willing to advance in those classes?"

"What do you mean, sir?" Harry inquired.

"Both Filius and Minerva believe that you could easily advance two years, perhaps more in either subject. Filius even volunteered to tutor you himself, should you be uncomfortable with students of a certain age.

"Well, I don't know much about which years cover what material, sir. Perhaps there is a test I could take?"

The corners of Albus's mouth twitched, ever so slightly. 'This should tell me everything I need to know.' Albus thought.

"Well, I believe I can help you there, Mister Potter." Albus said. "I have a mastery in Charms and taught Transfiguration for well over half a century. Perhaps a rather informal evaluation of your skills is in order?"

Harry hesitated for but a single breath, and Albus latched on to it. "Of course there is another option if you are uncomfortable with my testing. I am a master of a rather obscure branch of Magic called Legillimency. If you wish, I could look into your mind and see what you know on the subject. It's a lot faster and would have the additional effect of refreshing that information for you so you would be ready for your new class by Monday.

'Crap!' Harry thought. 'I forgot how good he was... I think I might be trapped.'

But Harry was a master of thinking on his feet, and this was no exception.

"I'm not really comfortable with someone looking into my mind. I have... secrets." Harry said, looking at his feet. He let an image of himself and Hermione sharing a bathtub in their younger years flash through his mind and he caught Albus's eye briefly. "Sir." he added.

"Of course. I understand, Harry." Albus's look told him that he bought it. Harry resisted the urge to pump his fists and shout 'YESSSS!' "How about a few simple things to start. Kindly levitate my quill."

Harry murmured the incantation and swished his wand. The feather quill lifted gently towards the ceiling.

"Good. Try it again silently?"

Harry did so. With ease.

"Now Wandlessly." Harry did as well, though he let the feather wobble slightly, intentionally. Albus frowned lightly. "Try doing both silently and wandlessly.

Harry cast the spell and the feather rose. He let out a sigh and let the feather drop. "I'm sorry sir. I let it..."

"That's quite all right, Harry. That was easily an OWL level casting. Now for spell divirsity."

Albus quizzed him on his charms knowledge, having him perform simple to intermediate charms. Harry cast a few of the advanced ones, but would either intentionally fail, or would "forget" every eighth or ninth spell that Albus asked about. Albus sprinkled in liberally a few questions about Charms theory, usually in strings of four or five questions in a row after any of Harry's "failed" castings.

"Very, very good Harry. I'm impressed." Albus congratulated. "I'd say you were a fifth year Charms student at least."

"Really, sir?" Harry asked, feeling genuine pride in the compliment. Despite being extremely gifted magically and with years of experience, he was still in the body of an eleven year old, and got all the insecurities that came with it.

"Of course, nobody is allowed to take their OWLs until their thirteenth birthday, so I will place you in the fourth year class for Charms. I'll have you do the examination privately just after your birthday." Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling again.

"Thank you, sir." Harry agreed.

"Now, are you ready for Transfiguration or would you like a moment to rest?"

"Perhaps just a moment, sir."

"Take your time. Perhaps a glass of water?"

"Please." Harry replied. A clear pitcher and glass levitated across the room to him, pouring as it flew. The glass landed gently in front of Harry and the pitcher made its way back across the room to its tray.

Harry finished the water in short order. A moment later Harry spoke. "I'm ready for the next test, sir."

"All right. I assume you are sufficiently warmed up from the charms examination?" Albus asked. At Harry's nod, he continued. "Then, I would like to see that progression of Transfigurations that you cast in Minerva's class that got her so worked up."

"All right, sir. Just to be warned, this is the only progression I know. I found it in an old 'Magical Discipline' handbook. I practiced it extensively."

"I understand." Albus affirmed.

Harry went through the progression of spells, ending with the rattlesnake and sword before turning it back into Albus's quill.

Albus applauded with a jovial smile. He quizzed Harry in much the same way as he'd done with charms. Perhaps a bit more extensively because he was a bit more knowledgeable in the subject.

"And lastly, I'd like you to turn my paperweight, here, into say... a peacock. A mildly difficult inanimate to animate Transfiguration but likely well within the scope of your abilities. At this point I'm testing your endurance rather than your aptitude. You are a marvel, Mister Potter."

"Thank you, sir." Harry recited the incantation, intending to cast the spell successfully. The second the words left his mouth, he knew it was a trick. Albus smiled like the cat that got the canary.

"Pet rocks. Wonderful things, aren't they? They really are magical you know. Highly resistant to all spells not cast by their owner. With such talent, I'm sure turning a light bulb into an owl well within your abilities?"

Harry gulped. It felt like a huge lump of ice traveled down his throat to settle in the center of his chest. He was caught. He contemplated options, the first idea being a memory charm. No other ideas came, and he was forced to discard the memory charm idea too. It was truly difficult to obliviate all the memory of an incident of a skilled Occlumens. Dumbledore would be able to keep enough clues from this meeting in his mind that this confrontation would be happening again within a few days. And the next time, Albus wouldn't give him the benefit of the doubt. And odds were high that he'd bring backup.

His only choice was to come clean. About everything. To his surprise, he felt tears coming to his eyes. Almost a minute went by before he'd managed the courage to speak, tears still streaming.

"I... Last time you were so manipulative. You kept me at arms length for years, not even letting me know why I was a target. And it wasn't until fifth year, the day of Sirius's death that you told me everything. The prophecy. Right after he died. But it was too late. You spent the next year teaching me but there wasn't enough time anymore. And then you DIED, Albus. And you took all our hopes with you. Your desire to keep secrets cost the lives of thousands...millions of good men and women." Harry rubbed his eyes lightly.

"If I'm to tell you this...all this. Then I'm going to need oaths from you Albus. Serious oaths. I can't trust you not to act on this information." Harry managed to get his crying under control.

"What would you have me pledge?" Albus asked softly.

"Non-disclosure to anyone, under any circumstances save my own death. For one."

"Of course."

"You will disclose all of your information on Voldemort, his Death Eaters, and the Order."

Albus agreed again.

"You will answer any question I ask honestly, without hesitation."

Albus scowled but agreed with a good deal of reluctance. "Anything else?"

"Yes. You will not act on any of the information I have given or will give you without my explicit consent. Failure to do so will place you into an immediate magical coma releasable only by me."

"What? You can't possibly expect me to agree to that."

"Yes, Albus. I do. Because it is the only way you will learn this information. I love you like my grandfather, but I most certainly do not trust you. Not with this."

"I could-" Albus started.

"No, Albus you could not. I am a better Occlumens than you or even Snape. I could hold my own in a duel with you long enough to escape. And I could lead a resistance effort from underground. Expel me if you like. Force me away from my friends and Godfather. Threaten the ones I love if you would sink that low. Call me a menace and have Fudge try and place me in Azkaban. It doesn't matter how you try and spite me, Headmaster. The only way you will get this information is by taking these oaths."

Albus gulped. "Anything else?"

"Yes, I have one final piece of the oath. There will be times when I will give you orders. A command. You will be allowed to state your objections and I will explain my reasoning, but regardless, there will be times where I will give you orders. And you will follow them implicitly. You will not be running the show. I will."

And to Harry's surprise, Albus took the oaths. A few minor additions and stipulations, but nothing major. Usually just chances for Albus to appeal his actions if he believes them to be the wrong course to take.

And then, Harry told him everything.


	24. Chapter 23

A/n: Well guys, it's been a while. A long while. But here I am, back from college for the summer and I can't find a job to save my life. So, I've got some time available for the first time in... ages. I've tried to write this chapter many times over and none of it would stick. I'd always freeze up after a page. But this time I forced myself to power through and I'm not entirely unhappy with the result. I apologize for the long wait. Happy reading.

**Too Much Time On My Hands**

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

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**??**

Ginny spent her time doing the only thing she could in her purpley-pink swirling void world. She learned. She asked every useful question she could think of, but all of the answers were... well... impossible. She had never really thought about things like time travel and alternate worlds before and it baffled her.

She knew that Harry was in an alternate universe. A world where Harry had gone back to Hogwarts to raise an army amongst the students and was doing everything in his power to keep Voldemort from coming back to power. And he was learning everything he could so that some day he would return to his own world and defeat Voldemort... but there weren't just two worlds anymore.

She tried to mull it through. There was the original world. Her world. Then there was the one Harry was now in. And there was a third world where Voldemort had taken her body and now there were two dark lords walking around. But if killing her had made a new world, then why was she as old as she was?

'I should look 11, because that's the moment I died. But I don't.' she thought.

Even more confusing. If Voldemort had created a third world then why was she in this void, this limbo of sorts? She should still be there with her friends, and there would be another world in which she had died in the chamber. I shouldn't have ripped her off to who knows where...

Which meant Voldemort hadn't made a new world. He'd done something a lot simpler and had done something to her in her own world. No new world was created.

"I don't get it!" she yelled. She could see the void rippling as a set of the voice's words came back towards her. She braced herself.

"I WILL SHOW YOU!" The Voice boomed. Ginny felt a strange sensation, like someone was stroking her brain as one would do to a cat. She could feel her brain forging new pathways to handle the huge influx of information. It was like someone was pouring molten lead into her skull. She felt something _give_ in her brain. It was important, she knew, but couldn't recall what it was.

Not that it mattered right now. All that mattered was the pain. Something else broke in her mind and everything went dark.

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**Hogwarts Corridors**

**11:23AM, September 25****th****, 1991**

It had been over a week since his meeting with Dumbledore, and Harry was still beating himself up about it. Both Hermione and Neville had tried to get him to calm down. Both failed miserably.

"Come talk to me once you've got your brain back under control." Neville had said. Harry had only grunted in reply.

Harry still had the distinct feeling that Albus Dumbledore was trying to find some way to weasel out of the oath. It was worrisome, as Dumbledore was a brilliant man and if there was a way out of it, Albus would find it.

But looking as hard as he could at the oath, the only loophole he could see was that Albus could act freely with the information in the event of Harry's death. But would Albus be willing to have Harry killed over this? He doubted it, but then why was he feeling so uneasy?

"I shouldn't have told him." Harry snapped under his breath for the hundredth time that week.

"Shouldn't have told who?" Harry looked up from the floor to see "Raggedy Fran" the fifth year female Hufflepuff prefect smiling down at him.

Harry hesitated, not really sure what to say. But it seemed she knew it wasn't something he wanted to talk about and changed the subject gracefully.

"Harry, some of your year mates thought you were having a difficult time adjusting, and they were worried about you. They approached the prefects and I volunteered to come talk with you. Do you have a minute?"

"Sure." Harry responded. He tried to not let his awkwardness show, as he'd never had a conversation like this and was quite curious about where it was going.

"Great!" she replied. "Now I'm going to cast a spell so that nobody can hear what we're saying. So that it's private. Is that fine?"

At Harry's nod, she twirled her wand and a faint blue sphere enveloped them. Red letters printed on the sphere read "Private conversation. Please don't interrupt"

"Now, I've already heard from some of your year mates and professors, and they say that you're doing wonderfully in your classes, particularly charms and transfiguration. Your grades are fine all around and I haven't heard any complaints about you. In fact most people in Hufflepuff really like you. I was wondering if you would be willing to tell me what's wrong?"

"I...what makes you think something is wrong?" he asked. At the moment, he felt every bit the nervous eleven-year-old boy he was supposed to be.

Fran's smile waned for a moment. "Harry, you've been missing two meals a day all week. Hannah, Justin and Ernie are worried because you haven't said more than two words to either of them in days. That combined with the rumors flying around, they think you don't trust them or don't like them anymore."

They paused, waiting for a staircase to stop moving. "I guess I've been ignoring them." Harry said

"I think that they're your friends and that you should talk to them. They care about you, Harry."

"I'll go talk to them now. Thank you by the way."

"Hey, it's in the job description. Good luck!" Fran finished. She waved her wand and dissipated the privacy bubble.

She gave him a hug and they went their separate ways, and Harry was left to his thoughts. He had never really given much thought to Hufflepuff prefects before but now that he had, he was amazed at the amount of care and dedication they put into their work. After the first night, a couple of night lights had appeared in his dorm, lighting a path from his room to the bathrooms. Every evening right before curfew, a prefect would always come in and tuck them in. A few nights there had been bedtime stories. They would always pop up and ask how they were adjusting and were always there with a hug and a friendly word. They were always there to help and at the same time they were unobtrusive. Harry hadn't realized how much work they were doing until he had specifically focused on it. Now he was just impressed and held a lot more respect for the position they held.

But now he had a few bridges to mend. He took a deep breath and stepped into the Hufflepuff common room to speak with his friends.

Hannah, Ernie and Justin were all settled onto one of the large comfortable couches and were talking about something.

"Hey guys." Harry managed. "May I sit?" Harry asked, gesturing at the large footrest across from them.

"Sure." They replied but instead of moving their feet for him to sit on the footrest, they cleared a spot between Justin and Hannah on the couch. Harry took the seat but didn't lean back, or rest his feet on the footrest, opting to sit on the edge, his back very straight.

"So, Fran came and talked to me a few minutes ago." He started. They sat in silence while Harry tried to figure out what to say next. "She told me that you guys were...Well... She thinks I should...That is I think I should... Oh I'm screwing this up. I'm sorry for not talking to you guys this week. I like you guys just fine and I still want to be friends with you. That is if you guys still want to be friends with me."

Three identical grins broke out across their faces and Hannah hugged him "Of course we do!" she exclaimed. Harry broke into a grin as well and they started chattering about what had happened throughout the week. Harry explained that he would be in third year charms and transfiguration once he got some private instruction from Flitwick and McGonnagall. Hannah talked about how Madam Pomfrey would be teaching her some basic healing charms in exchange for a little help around the Hospital Wing with little things like labeling medical potions and changing bedsheets. The head of the Gobstones Club had watched a match between Ernie and Justin and invited both of them to join.

Everything was back to normal. In fact it was better than it had been beforehand.

Suddenly, Hannah's watch started beeping. "Oh! It's almost 1:30!" she exclaimed as she silenced the alarm.

"So? What's at 1:30?" Justin asked.

"A Cuddle Puddle." She replied, extracting herself from the couch.

"A what?" Harry cut in.

"A Cuddle Puddle. Don't tell me you've never heard of them?"

"Sorry, no clue." Harry replied.

"Well now you're coming to one. Afterwards, if you didn't like it, I won't bug you about going to another one." She responded.

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**Hogwarts Castle**

**1:30PM, September 25th, 1991**

A Cuddle Puddle turned out to be a bunch of Hufflepuffs laying down in a room full of pillows. Snuggling. It was awkward for the first few minutes as Harry found his head resting on the stomach of an attractive third year girl. He laid there stiffly, wondering why he'd agreed to come along when someone rested their head on his arm and another head rested on his stomach. He took a deep breath and relaxed. Someone wrapped their arm around him and he abandoned his apprehensions, and sank into the feeling of physical contact with others.

He was shaken awake by the girl he was sleeping on about an hour later.

"S'rry." He mumbled, stifling a yawn.

"S'll right." she responded with a yawn of her own. Apparently falling asleep was both common and accepted. Hannah was standing over him and extended a hand to help him up.

"So, how was it?" she asked.

There was something both wonderful and terrifying about trusting others enough to snuggle with them. But there was also something liberating about it. The way that it caused his worries to vanish, and his stress just melted off of him.

"I think I liked it." He replied with a smile.

She returned the smile. "Me too. You have a comfortable stomach." They both laughed and headed back towards the common room.

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**Hogwarts Castle**

**5:11PM, September 29th, 1991**

The next few days, Harry spent almost exclusively in the company of Hufflepuffs. And he loved it. The more time he spent with his housemates, the more he realized that these people genuinely care. He knew he could approach any of the Hufflepuffs with a problem and they would help him iron it out without judgment. Susan Bones still slept with with a teddy bear, and in fact, could not sleep without it. In Gryffindor, she would have been teased, mercilessly. In Ravenclaw, her teddy might have mysteriously disappeared one night, just to see her frantically search for it. In Slytherin, the bear would have been held hostage, or ripped to shreds while she watched. In Hufflepuff, nobody so much as commented.

Harry was happy to offer moral and emotional support to other Puffs to levels he had never considered offering it before. When a compliment was given, it was always genuine. And compliments were voiced a lot more in Hufflepuff than in anywhere else he'd seen.

But the support inside the common room always felt necessary, because outside the common room it was a lot more dangerous to be a Hufflepuff. Whenever someone decided they needed a punching bag or a victim, they chose a Hufflepuff. Almost without exception. He'd heard some of the horror stories in the common room. Girls trying to hold their skirts up while getting levitated upside-down. Boys beaten up for no other reason than "they looked at me funny."

It all seemed a bit hard to believe, until Harry saw it happening for himself.

Harry, Hannah, Ernie and Justin were headed towards the dungeons when they heard frantic footsteps of another student running down the corridor. Jake Michaels, the first year Hufflepuff that needed the night lights to make it safely to the bathroom at night. "Bluebriar!" he called to them as he ran up, panting. "Some Slytherins, down the hall... I... just go and see. Stall for time, I'll find a prefect or a professor." Jake ran off, leaving the four of them standing there.

Harry's eyes widened. Bluebriar was the code the Hufflepuffs had all been taught at the beginning of the year for "Hufflepuff in danger. Send help." Harry and his friends took off running to their aid.


	25. Chapter 24

**Too Much Time On My Hands**

**Chapter Twenty-Four**

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**Hogwarts Castle**

**5:18PM September 29th, 1991**

Harry heard the raucous laughter of the Slytherins from around the corner. He peaked his head around and watched for a moment to let his friends catch up, and to make something remotely resembling a plan.

There were seven of them. All of them wore a Slytherin badge and were somewhere between 4th and 7th year. Harry knew none of them by name. They had crowded around a pair of third year Hufflepuffs, who were both pinned to the wall. The boy was stuck to the wall by what appeared to be a series of sticking charms and was yelling his head off. Not that anyone could hear him, as he was also silenced.

The girl was being held the old-fashioned way by two hulking men, each one was over a foot taller than Harry, and might have been twice his weight. They were nearly solid muscle.

"Now. Where were we before we were so...rudely interrupted." Whispered a tall boy to the girl. His brown hair was spiked in a way he clearly thought looked daring, but really looked like it simply hadn't been combed in awhile. He reached out and touched the girl's face. She cringed away from the hand. The gorillas holding her chuckled.

Harry looked back at his approaching friends. They would hurt themselves if they got involved in this one. With a wave of his wand a purple shield blocked the corridor. Most fourth years would be able to dispell it, but Hannah, Ernie and Justin would not.

Unfortunately, one of the Slytherins heard him cast the spell. "Well would you look at that? Another poof, lost and away from his friends. Pin him up high so he can watch." The ringleader commanded. Two Slytherins extricated themselves from the small crowd and rounded on Harry, drawing their wands.

"Accio Shoes!" Harry cast, his wand pointed at the nearest goon. His feet whipped out from under him and he fell. Unfortunately for him, he didn't make a move to protect his head, which connected with the flagstones with a meaty thump. He didn't get back up.

"You little shit!" the other goon snapped and fired off a nasty yellow hex that sizzled as it collided with the wall behind Harry. It was a disintegration hex, borderline illegal and would have hospitalized him for weeks if it had connected. Harry narrowed his eyes at the incoming threat. If they weren't going to play nice, neither was he.

Harry cast a modified petrification curse that caused only the target's ankles and feet to turn to stone. The charging Slytherin hit the floor with an "oof!" as the wind was knocked out of him. Harry summoned his first two opponent's wands and pocketed them. The crowd of Slytherins turned to face him. One had the foresight to stun the girl they had been tormenting.

"Looks like he's got a little fight in him. But I bet we can beat it out of him. Bludgeoning hexes, everyone." The five remaining Slytherins raised their wands like members of a firing squad and cast at the same time. The Slytherins didn't wait to see if the first volley had hit. They had a cadence going. 1...2..._Ledoxus_, 1...2..._Ledoxus, _1...2..._Led-_

The Slytherins kept casting in relative order for nearly five volleys before they were interrupted by an enormous wave of light and heat. All five were knocked flat and Harry's shield blocking the hallway flexed, but held strong.

Harry regained his feet, and drew a second wand (one of the captured Slytherin wands) and summoned one of Dumbledore's infamous whips of fire. The tip of his own wand was crackling with energy, a ball of light at the tip was growing with each passing second.

The fallen Slytherins attempted to get up and regroup. Every time a wand pointed in his direction, his whip of fire came down, leaving blistering welts across the hand of the offending caster. But of course, Harry had only one whip and there were five of them. Just after Harry deflected the wand hand of one of the Slytherins, their leader bellowed out "_Crucio!"_

Harry dropped to the floor, writhing in pain. The fiery whip vanished, but the spell growing on Harry's other wand continued to grow. Without a word, Harry flicked his wand at his attacker. The spell missed, but it didn't matter. There was a sound similar to that of a bug zapper frying a moth as electricity arced from the ball of energy to the five now standing Slytherins. Needless to say, they weren't standing for long, and this time they stayed down. Harry felt his ward on the hallway go down, and the corridor was now filled with dozens of babbling onlookers, excited to figure out why someone had blocked the corridor.

They rounded the corner and saw young Harry Potter reviving a pair of Hufflepuffs. The room reeked of burnt hair and ozone, the floor was carpeted with Slytherins, their bodies lightly smoldering.

Prefects pushed their way to the front of the small mob and started restoring order. The incapacitated Slytherins were levitated to the hospital wing, and Harry along with the two third years were dragged off to Professor Sprout's office to explain what was going on.

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**??**

It was all so simple. Life and death are simply states of being, related by time. In a place without time, you can be neither alive nor dead.

Time and space are different forms of the same concept. Without time, there can be no space. Therefore, Ginny Weasley did not exist.

But there are ways to pull this place back into the flow of time.

She would make Ginny Weasley exist again. Her Directive required it.

She reached out with her magic and took hold of the forces inherent to this place. It was a barrier, an inconvenience, an obstacle, and it stood between herself and her Directive.

She tightened her grip on the forces, and _pulled_. The purples, blues and pinks rippled in reply. Resistance. The forces held firm under her onslaught.

Unacceptable.

She reached out with more of her magic and adjusted her grip. She _pulled_ again. This time something gave. There came a sound, not unlike that of tearing paper, and there was a hole in the purples, blues and pinks. Into nothingness.

Nothingness does not have a color. It is transparent and there is Nothing on the other side. Like glass, without substance that goes on forever.

She approached her hole into nothingness... and stepped through.

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**Hogwarts Castle**

**Professor Sprout's Office**

**6:11PM September 29th, 1991**

Professor Sprout was not a disciplinarian by anyone's standards. But nobody survives as a Hogwarts professor for thirty-eight years without learning a few tricks of the trade. She was not a disciplinarian by anyone's standards, but she knew how to handle troublemakers. And of all the professors at Hogwarts, her punishments always came closest to fitting the crime. And every time she gave out these punishments, she appeared genuinely sad, as if she really sincerely wished she didn't have to be doing this to you. That look of saddened disappointment was sometimes worse than the punishment itself.

She greeted them politely at the door at her office.

"Now, I'm going to talk to each of you individually. I've found that is the most effective method to encourage the truth to come out. It's not a matter of not trusting you, it's just my job. Sometimes students feel a bit... pressured by the presence of other students and we on the Hogwarts staff don't want that to happen. Everyone should feel comfortable telling their side of the story." She was beaming at them, and despite the nervousness Harry felt sitting in the chair, he couldn't help but smile back.

"Now, who should I see first?" she asked, moving her finger around as if it was a random decision. "Amanda, come on into my office and we'll talk about what happened."

The third year girl walked intoSprout's office, and Sprout closed the door behind her.

Harry sat back in the chair and sighed. Something told him that he'd be the last one to go in and so he consigned himself to waiting.

It felt like hours but it was likely only about twenty minutes later when Amanda emerged from Professor Sprout's office. She looked like she'd been crying a bit, but she was smiling now. The stick of some sort of lollipop was sticking out of the edge of her mouth. She removed it before speaking. "Tyler, Professor Sprout says you're up next."

The boy nodded and headed into Professor Sprout's office. Amanda hovered there for a moment, just looking at Harry.

"Thank you." She said finally.

"Anytime." Harry replied. "It's what Hufflepuffs do, right? We look out for each other."

She giggled softly. "Still, thank you." and she headed off down the hallway.

Tyler wasn't in Professor Sprout's office for particularly long. He gave Harry an encouraging smile and a thumbs up as Sprout called him in. Harry wasn't really sure what Tyler had meant, but assumed it was favorable.

"Please have a seat, Harry. Help yourself to a candy if you would like one." Professor Sprout greeted him, gesturing to an overflowing candy dish on her desk.

Harry sat and helped himself to a Sugar Quill.

"As a precautionary measure, I have been known to record conversations that happen in my office, particularly when they have to do with student discipline. Nobody will be allowed to access these unless one of the other professors or the Headmaster disapproves of the disciplinary measures I take, Assuming, of course that I take any at all. Is that fine with you, Harry?" she asked, gesturing with her wand at a glass sphere on her desk (Harry had assumed it was a paperweight.)

"That's fine." Harry replied.

She tapped her wand on the glass sphere twice. It filled with a green mist. "Please begin when you feel ready, Mr. Potter." Her tone had gotten a lot more strict for the recording.

"Well, I was with Hannah, Justin and Ernie, and we were walking when Jake ran up to us and said 'Bluebriar.' He told us where to go and to stall for time until he could find a prefect or a Professor. We ran to get there. I got there first, saw what was going on and blocked the corridor behind me to keep my friends out of it. The Slytherins would probably have seriously hurt them."

"Why block the corridor?" Professor Sprout inquired. "Surely four wands are better than one, especially in situations where you're already outnumbered?"

"Professor, I know that neither of them can cast a stunning spell yet, let alone hold off seven older students." Harry replied. "They could have been seriously injured."

"What makes you different from them, Mr. Potter? You all arrived at Hogwarts and have been studying magic for the same period of time. Why would you be any more qualified than they are?" Sprout queried.

"I had some rather...extensive magical training before school, and am magically... gifted I guess you could say. Plus, Sirius discovered a loophole in the underage wizardry law. There aren't any rules against studying magical theory or reading spells or practicing the movements with a stick. I've had more experience with a wand than all three of them combined."

"I see. Could you please describe what the other students were doing that prompted you to ward the hallway to protect your friends?"

"They had pinned Tyler and Amanda to the wall. Tyler was held by sticking charms and was silenced while Amanda was being held in place by two really big guys. One of the Slytherins was touching her face and she clearly didn't like it."

"Allright, that matches what the other students have said. Now, Dinner is starting soon, so I'm going to speed this up a bit. Just confirm or deny each of these questions, all right?"

"OK."

"You cast the first spells in this exchange, but only when the other students had threatened you and were coming towards you?"

"Correct."

"And the spells you cast caused the two students advancing towards you to trip and fall. You then summoned their wands to keep them from hexing you."

"Yes."

"The other students then stunned Amanda and started casting the bludgeoning curse at you."

"They did."

"You cast a spell next, one that knocked all five of them down. What spell did you cast?"

"It's usually called the concussion hex. It's a spell I learned from my dueling instructor this summer."

Sprout nodded. "Now, I'd like you to just mention the rest of the spells that were cast in the exchange and who cast them, if you would."

"I conjured a flame whip and started charging a lightning arc hex. I used the whip to keep them from casting anything at me for awhile. Then, the one with spiky brown hair cast a spell that I haven't read about. The incantation was 'crucio'-"

"And what happened when you were hit with that curse, Mr. Potter?" Professor Sprout's face had turned grave.

"It hurt like a thousand hot knives were stabbing me."

"And you are certain of the incantation? It wasn't Crustio or Cruziar or...?"

"I am."

Sprout looked ready to murder something. Or someone."And then what happened?"

"I released the fire whip so that I could focus on the lightning arc hex. It needs to charge up, you know. And I cast the lightning arc at them to make the pain stop."

"Is that all?"

"Yes ma'am."

Sprout tapped her wand on the orb and it glowed red briefly before returning to its original clear state.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to take this to Headmaster Dumbledore. The curse that Mister Bailey used on you is one of the three Unforgivable curses and earns anyone who casts it a lifetime sentence in Azkaban. The curse is also known to have some side-effects and I'd like for you to go see Madame Pomfrey before going to dinner. Was there anything else you'd like to talk about, Harry?"

"Um... House points? Detention?" he asked.

"Ahh yes. Twenty points to Huflepuff." Said Professor Sprout.

"Don't you mean 'from' Hufflepuff, Professor."

"I did not misspeak. You would have been gaining fifty points for your efforts in the hallway, but I

subtracted thirty for dueling in the halls. It is against the rules after all. Enjoy the rest of your day, Harry."

Harry left the office and headed for the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey ended up spending long enough checking him over that he had missed dinner and ended up eating in the hospital wing.

Harry returned to the Hufflepuff common room just before curfew and was greeted by deafening applause.


	26. Chapter 25

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**?**

Falling. Miles of falling. 'Two thousand and thirty-eight point five three miles, assuming the gravitational constant is the same as our initial dimension.' Their mind helpfully supplied. 'In approximately thirty-seven minutes fifteen seconds we will have traveled the appropriate distance required to enter the reality currently occupied by Harry Potter.'

Their directive was clear. And in thirty seven minutes, they would achieve the first objective.

Then they would need to find Harry Potter.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**The Shore of the Lake**

**Hogwarts**

**7:30PM, September 29****th****, 1991  
**

After the second time Harry had been forced to recount his battle against the Slytherin students in a matter of minutes, Harry took his leave of the Hufflepuff common room. He knew that Justin and the others were going to be mad at him for warding the hallway and he wanted to put off that confrontation as long as he could. Plus he had another hour until curfew and it was a beautiful fall evening. Perfect for a walk.

There came a sound, not unlike the tearing of paper, and he caught the blur of motion out of the corner of his eye, and maybe a flash of purple light. He whipped around, wand drawn just in time to see a plume of water on the opposite side of the lake. The splash receded and ripples spread out from the point of impact. Curiosity dragged Harry to the other side of the lake.

'I know it was right around here...' He thought. "Lumos." He scanned the water, but even with the light, he couldn't see much. It was already dark, after all. There was a faint silhouette rising to the surface about thirty feet out. It was almost... human shaped.

"Hello?" Harry tentatively called out.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Hogwarts Lake**

**Hogwarts**

**8:07PM, September 29****th****, 1991.**

'Contact.' They thought as they passed through the final rift into what was supposed to be Harry Potter's current reality. In seconds, they registered their location, and put up a wandless, nonverbal wedge-shaped shield, just before impact with the lake. At terminal velocity, even water could kill on impact. With the shield, they rose to the surface with only two broken ankles, a fractured tibia and a dislocated knee. Still within walking parameters.

"-ou all right?" Harry asked for the second time.

_'Harry Potter. We bring to you an urgent message concerning the state of the time-space continuum.'_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**The Kitchens**

**Hogwarts**

**11:21PM, September 29****th****, 1991**

"So, let me get this straight. You used to be Ginny Weasley. But after I traveled through space and time, Voldemort went back in time and killed you before you helped send me back in time. This would make it impossible for you to have sent me back in time, because you were dead. But you didn't die, because I had already been sent back in time."

"Affirmative, but we have one clarification. We did die. We also did not die. An analogy might be drawn to Schrödinger's cat hypothesis. We both exist and do not exist. This is the problem."

"Right..." Harry sighed. "So, Voldemort's time travel linked my home world together with this new world. I need to defeat Voldemort in the Chamber of Secrets next year and if I fail, a world with two Voldemorts in it will overwrite this world and my home world, obliterating everyone and everything inside them. Am I right so far?"

"There are several flaws in your statement. The encounter with Voldemort is not until April, 20th 1993, so calling it next year is inaccurate and 'world' is a flawed term that does not correctly mirror what is occurring, but we sense that you have an elementary understanding of the situation thus far. Continue."

"A simple 'yes' would have sufficed... Anyway, if I win, then only one of the two Voldemorts will exist, and I will need to defeat the other at some later date and once he is dead I will be given the choice between destroying my home world or this world. Both of them cannot exist at the same time."

"Affirmative. This event is slated to occur on the day you exited your previous reality and entered this one."

"So, here's the part where I'm confused. If Voldemort has already traveled back in time, why hasn't he already won? Why do we still exist if he's already killed you?"

"Because relative to you, Voldemort does not arrive in the Chamber of Secrets for another nineteen months. It is only from Voldemort's reference frame that he has triumphed. From the reference frame of the universe, he both has and has not won. It will not be until your conflict on that day that one of those possibilities will be eliminated."

Harry rubbed his temples vigorously. "I'm getting a headache from all of this."

"Understandable. Mortal minds were never meant to understand what it truly means to Be."

"So what are we going to do about you? This world already has a Ginny Weasley and she is only ten at the moment, and not even a student here yet."

"We can take care of ourselves." the Ginny-thing replied. She then vanished. No sound, no distortion in the air. One moment she had been there, and the next, she was gone.

Harry made it safely back to the common room and was relieved that his friends had given up on waiting for him and had gone to sleep. It only took him a few seconds after he'd laid down to do the same.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Near the Hogwarts Lake**

**Hogwarts**

**4:45 PM, October 31****st****, 1991**

"Harry, there you are!" Hermione called from across the grounds. She jogged to reach him, and Neville matched her pace.

"We haven't heard from you in weeks! What's been going on?" Neville inquired.

"Oh man. It's good to see you guys too. I've just been kept busy." Harry replied

"Busy? You've already done all of this before. What could have kept you from your friends?" Hermione demanded.

"The other Hufflepuffs. After my fight with the Slytherins last month, the other 'puffs have been escorting me everywhere, thinking that Slytherins were going to try and get revenge. I can't go anywhere without at least three fourth years with me as an escort. Professor Sprout herself comes to the common room to take me to Herbology. This is getting ridiculous."

"You have no idea..." Neville muttered under his breath.

"So you're not sulking or avoiding us due to the whole Ginny thing?" Hermione asked

"Nope. Just avoiding the mean, nasty Slytherins." Harry said with a mock sneer at Neville. "There have been five attempts on my life in the last three days. I've taken to putting a switching charm on the Hufflepuff and Slytherin punch bowls. Three Slytherins had to have their mouths regrown when they found essence of flesh eating slug in their punch. I'm going to have to skip the charm tomorrow because someone's going to think it's a brilliant idea to poison the Slytherin bowl instead."

Neville chuckled. "I was wondering what happened with that. That cow Pansy Parkinson couldn't talk all day yesterday. I though Christmas had come early."

The laughter settled them down onto more serious subjects. Neville put up a privacy charm.

"So how are things going on your end?" Harry inquired of his friends.

"Good, actually." Hermione replied. "I'm involved in several study groups and have been attending a few of the clubs around the school. I'm through the reading up to fifth year in most courses but my practical is a bit behind. I'll keep practicing."

"Cool. And you, Neville?"

"Working overtime to defuse Harry Potter death plots. I'm most of the way through the restricted section's potions collection. I've brewed more antidotes and sabotaged more potions in the past week than I thought possible. I swear if we live to graduation I'm going to be either a potions master or a healer with all this practical experience I'm getting. Some sixth year was trying to make the counter potion to Felix Felicis, a bad luck potion. Actually brewed it right too. I tweaked the temperature on his heating charm so it boiled over. Several Slytherins got a few whiffs of it and promptly got busted by Filch. Lost Slytherin eighty points between them."

"Ugly business." Hermione sniffed. "I wish they'd leave well enough alone. Someone else is bound to get hurt if they keep it up."

"Agreed." Neville replied. "But your brow's still wrinkled mate. Something else has been on your mind that you haven't told us."

"Yeah. Working my way up to it." Harry responded. "I'm just thinking about next year..."

"Well out with it. What's got you worried?" Neville persisted.

"If the circumstances don't fit the scenario Voldemort appeared in we risk creating another paradox and fracturing reality further than we already have. Voldemort's reality and mine would be separate and both of us would win, which is not possible because I needed Ginny's help to get here." Harry explained.

"You can't mean..." Neville trailed off.

"Yes, I do. In order for Voldemort to appear in this Chamber of Secrets, Ginny has to be there and the one possessed by the diary. We can't reach out to her or help. We have to sit there and watch her suffer all year and not do anything about it."

The three of them stood in silence for several minutes. One by one, they left the lake and returned to the castle for the Halloween feast.

**A/n:** I'm back everyone! I'm terribly sorry for the year long wait on this chapter. Things are absolutely miserable here. I'm graduated from college and now home living with my parents because I can't find work. My parents are divorcing. I have the money to move out, but not enough to handle rent without a monthly income.

I'll be doing my best to write more in the next few months. I'm intending to finish off first year with the next chapter. It'll likely be a series of a half dozen short scenes throughout the year to keep track of what everyone is doing.

That's all for now folks. Hope to be writing more soon.

Neopyro

P.S. My undergrad degree is in Chemistry. If you are working somewhere that could use me, drop me an email or an message. I'm willing to relocate.


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